Harry and John Potter: Year 4 v2
by HellIsHere
Summary: Harry, John and Delilah are no longer at the Dursleys. Sirius Black is free. Remus Lupin has a decent home. A legendary tournament makes a surprising and welcome comeback, and somehow Harry finds himself in more danger than ever. And what happened to John's near-perfect relationship? M for language/violence/suggestive content. Best read after years 1-3 also on my profile
1. The ominous nightmare

**In case you didn't catch my 'housekeeping' at the end of year 3, here's an important message for the rest of the series.**

 **From here on out, the Harry and John series will be split into two parts. One will be a Ron/Hermione endgame version, and another will be a John/Hermione version, just because I found the idea intriguing after one of my readers suggested it.**

 **We often see Hermione paired off with people outside Ron who just don't make sense, like Draco Malfoy, other Weasleys, Sirius and Remus, and weirdest of all, Voldemort himself...**

 **It was made apparent to me that John's character could actually work with her. I initially envisioned John's relationship with Hermione to be best friends, as with Harry and Hermione, but different. Sort of a more outright brother/sister relationship, but in all honesty, that reader was right. Given the right circumstances, John would probably fall for Hermione, and fall hard.**

 **I will make a point of making those circumstances very apparent, and distinct from the Ron/Hermione version. And for the John/Hermione version, don't worry. Ron will** ** _not_** **be neglected/thrown under the bus. He's my favourite character for a reason.**

 **The two versions will be posted simultaneously, and don't worry, they won't be too drastically different in too many ways, which means the rate at which I upload them really shouldn't be adversely affected. They will be distinct from each other though.**

 **I fully intend on making both versions fully believable, as neither will work quite like canon.**

 **The Ron/Hermione version will be titled "Harry and John Potter year (insert year) v1" and the John/Hermione version will have identical titles, with a "v2" in place of the "v1".**

 **This is v2.**

* * *

The old Riddle house in Hangleton was absolutely not a place where any decent person would like to find themselves. The multiple murder in itself was bad enough, but the house looked like a real life depiction of a true haunted house.

But the elderly Frank Bryce, the gardener for the deceased Riddle family, still tended to the gardens, and in spite of the house itself being decrepit and foreboding, and Frank's bad leg (the carried effects of his wartime injuries). That being said, he never entered the house. Perhaps out of a respect for his old employers?

One night however, changed that record. Flickering lights could be seen on the top floor, and hushed whispers of the still awake residents of the old village were exchanging hushed, panicked whispers.

Frank though, suspected a more benign explanation than the rest of the village. He expected there to be a bunch of kids breaking in and messing around in there.

Grumbling to himself, he grabbed his cane and angrily strode towards the old house.

Upon reaching the source of the light, he began to hear hushed voices.

"Master, I was only suggesting... perhaps... if we were to do it... without the boy?" came a weak, shaky voice. It belonged to a short man with colourless hair and a missing finger.

"No! The boy is everything! It cannot be done without him! And it will be done!" replied another voice. This one was cold, high pitched, harsh and yet somehow... weak sounding. Something about that voice though... it simply commanded compliance, respect and fear.

"I will not disappoint you my lord." came the final voice. The man had straw-coloured hair, some freckles and a heavily lined face. He spoke with much more confidence than the first man.

Frank gave a silent jump when he saw something moving on the floor. He looked more closely to see an enormous green snake, at least twelve feet long, as thick as a man's thigh, and yet for whatever reason, it didn't react to his presence. It simply slithered towards the chair which likely contained the owner of the cold, and terrifying voice.

He then heard something he would never understand. Some form of hissing, but it seemed controlled... almost communicative.

"Nagini tells me that the old muggle caretaker is standing just outside the door." came the high-pitched voice.

The short, subservient man headed to the doorway and saw Frank immediately. Frank raised his arms in surrender.

"Stand aside Wormtail. I must give our guest a proper greeting. _Avada Kerdavra_!"

Frank Bryce fell to the floor in a heap, dead before he had stopped falling.

Approximately two hundred miles away, the boy involved in the discussions awoke with a start, feeling the scar on his forehead burning painfully.

* * *

Harry sat bolt upright immediately. He was dizzy, confused, and his scar burned hotly, and he immediately put his hand over it, in a futile attempt to deal with the pain.

It took him ten seconds to realize that he wasn't in the abandoned Riddle mansion. He wasn't watching Lord Voldemort murder an elderly man. He was in his own bed. He was sat in a comfortable room in a London house, surrounded by all of his school things, a few new posters and some random belongings he'd acquired over the last month or so of living with his and John's godfathers, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

Did that dream actually mean something? The last time his scar had hurt like this, he was face to face with Voldemort himself. He sluggishly rolled out of bed and walked across the room to open his wardrobe for a look in the mirror. He saw the familiar form of the skinny, short fourteen year old boy that he was. His bright green eyes looked as confused as he actually was. His scar looked normal, but it was definitely stinging.

He could remember the dark room, the massive snake on the hearth rug, Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail... but how? He was supposed to be in Azkaban. Harry looked out of the window to see that it was still dark out. It was likely about three in the morning. He would ask Sirius about it when everyone else was awake.

Sirius had been given his full pardon from the ministry of Magic, and had reclaimed his former job at the department of Magical Law enforcement. A very ironic turn of events given his stint in Azkaban.

Remus meanwhile, was still job hunting. As expected, given his lycanthropy, it was proving particularly difficult. However, for the first time in his adult life, it didn't mean that his living conditions had to suffer. Even the morning after his last transformation (though the wolfsbane potion helped), he looked to be in a great mood.

Delilah was driven to tears of happiness to see her beloved former teacher in such good spirits. She had settled into life away from the Dursleys as well as Harry himself had. It was particularly interesting given the fact that the year before, she would have dearly wanted to reconcile her abilities as a witch with Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley, her biological family. But now, she simply felt... free.

Surprisingly, the least visibly affected out of the three youngsters in the house was John. He simply took it all in his stride and lived his life as he usually would. The only difference was that Sirius and Remus didn't feel that keeping a tight leash on John was a good idea. Harry agreed - the tighter the noose, the more likely John would be to stick his middle finger in the face of the authority figure in question.

But all in all, John was the same as ever. Harry was absolutely shocked however, to see that he completely ignored every attractive girl their age they would see when out in London. Clearly his girlfriend, Katie Bell meant a great deal to him.

Harry made a mental note to himself to bring up his dream over breakfast. Sirius' access to ministry resources, particularly information and previous experience with dark magic in the first wizarding war would prove invaluable, as would Remus' vast knowledge of the realm of the dark arts.

The dark arts were after all, the source of his scar.

Harry rubbed his eyes and thought back to the dream again. Voldemort, Wormtail and the other man had been plotting something. Whatever it was, it referred to 'the boy', which was almost undoubtedly him. But what were they planning?

Harry tried to distract himself by looking out onto the street. Wilton Mews was the very picture of an upper class central London locale. Harry was delighted to hear that Sirius chose a muggle London house, and didn't regret feeling that delight. There was so much life in the city. But every time Harry would look at another part of the surrounding area, the dream would re-enter his mind.

His scar was hurting. Was Voldemort nearby? He half-expected to hear the swish of a cloak and footsteps outside his room, but shook those thoughts out of his head. Voldemort in Wilton Mews... that was absurd.

 _Get a grip_ Harry told himself. _Voldemort isn't coming anywhere near here. Just talk to Sirius about it in the morning. Don't make a big deal of it. Can't have the Quidditch world cup trip turned into a bunch of worried inquiries about the damn scar._

Harry forced himself to calm down and climbed back into his bed. He managed to sleep calmly for the rest of the night.

* * *

Harry woke up again at eight in the morning, slightly later than usual, and after brushing his teeth, walked into the kitchen, where Sirius and Remus were teaching John and Delilah (with limited success) a recipe for pancakes which Remus had come up with.

"I put in too much sugar, didn't I? Hey Harry." said John.

"Good morning. The pancakes will be ready soon." said Remus, pleasantly.

"Morning everyone. Mind if I join?" Harry asked.

"Go ahead. Crack some eggs into that bowl." said Sirius, pointing towards an empty glass bowl.

Harry got to work on cracking the eggs, and decided to deliberately wait before bringing up his scar.

"So something weird happened this morning." said Harry.

"Oh?" Remus asked.

"Yeah... my scar hurt, and it woke me up at about three in the morning. Do curse scars always hurt years after you get them?" Harry asked.

Remus furrowed his eyebrows.

"They shouldn't do. Not unless it was a curse designed to debilitate you, but Voldemort was trying to kill you that night. I don't know Harry... this isn't a good sign." said Remus.

Sirius was staying quiet for a moment. Only when John and Delilah looked to him did he respond.

"I can't say I have any specific knowledge here. The only people who'd know would likely be unspeakables..." Sirius mused.

"They'd be what?" Delilah asked, curiously.

"Unspeakables. They're the ministry's workers at the department of mysteries. Their work is absolutely top-secret. They're legally bound to never talk about their work." Sirius explained.

"So... basically we have no way of knowing what's going on?" John asked.

"Not necessarily. I'll ask around at work tomorrow and see what I find." said Sirius.

"I'll write to some contacts who have strong understandings of curses." said Remus.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Sirius asked.

Harry hesitated for a moment. He was reluctant to mention the dream and make it appear as if he was losing his nerve.

"Well... it only started hurting after I had this... dream." said Harry.

The other four stared at him, silently urging him to continue.

"Well in this drea, there was this house. Voldemort was there. but I didn't see him. I just heard him. Weirder still was that Pettigrew was there too. And some other guy, probably a follower of his. They were saying that 'it cannot be done without the boy'. I've had enough experiences with Voldemort to know that he's talking about me." said Harry.

"Wormtail? How?" John asked.

Sirius froze for a moment. He looked at the table, where an owl had delivered his copy of the daily prophet in a parcel. He didn't hesitate to stride over to the table and rip the parcel open. Upon reading the front page headline, his eyes widened.

"WHAT?" He roared.

There was no mystery behind Sirius' reaction upon reading the headline.

 _PETER PETTIGREW ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN_

The article went on to explain how Pettigrew's animagus powers were taken into account, and that his escape had the markings of assistance from someone inside the ministry itself, likely someone within the department of magical law enforcement. It also looked as if Pettigrew had escaped at least a week earlier, and that his cell had been inhabited with nothing but a regular brown rat the entire time.

"Brilliant... So the ministry's as incompetent as Fudge himself." Delilah remarked.

"Organizations are only as strong as their weakest link. Have to say though, I wish that the one in question wasn't a bloody governmental organization." Sirius grumbled.

"We should re-focus on the matter at hand though. Harry, what else did you see in the dream?" Remus asked.

"Well the guy who wasn't Voldemort or Pettigrew looked like he was going to be the one who was supposed to get to me and do whatever it was that Voldemort's planning. Thing is though, I didn't recognize his voice, and I couldn't see him." said Harry.

Remus inwardly cursed. Overall, they knew very little about whatever was going on.

"If this dream is anything to go by... well I have to say, don't stray out of the sight of people you know and trust. We don't know who this man is, where he is, or what he has access to." said Sirius, very seriously.

"I don't want to worry the Weasleys about this... is going to the Quidditch world cup still on?" Harry asked, anxiously.

"Absolutely. I know we can trust them." said Remus.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's only fair that you get to live your life the way you want to anyway." Sirius added.

That was absolutely true. So much of Harry's life was filled with circumstances out of his own control. Sometimes he felt like he had no agency.

Worse still was the fact that John, Hermione, Delilah and Ron felt the need to stand by him through thick and thin. He was grateful, but guilty that he put them through it all. No matter how much they insisted that they wanted to stick with Harry through anything, the guilt would always hit him.

* * *

There was no sign of Pettigrew for two weeks, nor was there any sign of Voldemort's play for Harry within that time span, and it had been all but forgotten, in spite of Sirius explaining how his colleagues all said that curse scars shouldn't behave in the way that Harry's was.

In fact, the only thing on their minds was the contents of the letter that Ron had sent the previous day.

 _Hey guys,_

 _Dad got the tickets! Ireland vs. Bulgaria, Monday night. We've booked out some tents as well, and mum said she's getting our stuff from Diagon Alley while we're away. Bring your gringotts keys and give them to her before we head out. By the way, Fred and George have made a bunch of really... interesting stuff. I'll explain it all when you get here. John, I know you'll love it. Hermione arrived yesterday by the way. She's surprisingly excited for the match, but obviously she's more excited about seeing you guys along with me again. I never realized how much us being friends with her actually meant to her._

 _Anyway, hope your summer's been good. Bill and Charlie are here too, so you get to meet them finally._

 _See you soon,_

 _Ron_

Sirius was at work, and Remus was visiting Ted Tonks, an old friend of theirs. They'd already said their goodbyes, as they weren't likely to see them again for a long time. For some reason, Sirius told them to get dress robes, as something at Hogwarts was going to happen which would require dress robes.

"What would they be for though?" Delilah asked.

"Sounds like some kind of formal event being hosted at Hogwarts. No idea when though. Or what it actually is." said John.

Their discussion was interrupted by Mr. Weasley walking through the fireplace.

"Hello you three! Are you all packed?" he asked.

"Hi Mr. Weasley. Yeah, we're ready to go." said John.

"Excellent. After you." said Mr. Weasley, smiling.

Harry, Delilah and John promptly threw down floo powder and found themselves in the Wesley living room, and an assortment of red-haired people were to be found within it. Ron was sat at a table with Hermione, Fred and George, and two others who Harry, Delilah and John had never met were standing near the fireplace. They immediately knew who they were. Ron's oldest brothers, Bill and Charlie.

Charlie was built more like the twins, shorter and stockier than Bill, Percy and Ron. His arms were muscular, and when he said hello and shook hands with Harry, Harry could feel callouses, and saw a large, shiny burn on his left arm. He certainly looked like someone who worked with dragons.

They were surprised at Bill's appearance though. Having known that Bill was, like Percy, a head-boy at Hogwarts, had achieved twelve OWLS, and was overall, an academic god-send according to some of the teachers, they didn't expect what they saw. Bill had long hair tied back in a ponytail, had an earring with what looked like a fang on it, and wore boots that looked like leather, but on closer inspection, were shown to be dragonhide. In short, Bill was cool. Quite the opposite of Percy in fact.

Both Bill and Charlie struck them as laid-back in a similar manner to Ron, with the main difference being that they were grown men and had matured in comparison to their fellow fourteen year old.

John became acutely aware of the fact that the summer had treated Hermione rather well, and cursed himself inwardly for looking at her for longer than he should have.

After saying hello to all of the other Weasleys, the three of them joined Ron, Hermione and Ginny in heading up to Ron's room.

"So, in your letter you were talking about something Fred and George were up to?" Harry asked.

Ginny and Ron laughed, but Hermione didn't.

"It's called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." Hermione said without humour.

"Basically, we'd been hearing explosions coming from their room for ages, but we thought they just liked the noise. It turns out that they were inventing stuff." said Ginny.

"Some of... actually all of it is kind of dangerous, but really brilliant all the same. It's a bunch of joke stuff, like Zonko's. Mum found a list of all the stuff they have and a bunch of prices. They're planning on selling it at Hogwarts, to make a bit of money. Actually, they want to open up a joke shop when they're done with Hogwarts. Mum got furious, she wants them to get into the ministry like dad and Percy, but they don't want anything to do with it." Ron explained.

"Brilliant!" John laughed. "What sort of stuff have they made?"

"Fake wands that turn into weird stuff when you wave them, sweets that have ridiculous effects, like growing your tongue to massive sizes, stuff like that." said Ron.

"Harry, Delilah? Our bank account will be mysteriously losing money for the forseeable future." said John. The others laughed.

"So Fred and George aside, how was your summer?" Hermione asked.

"Great. Living in suburban Surrey was bloody boring, central London is incredible." John said enthusiastically.

"Isn't muggle London meant to be expensive?" Ron asked.

"Very expensive house prices, that's for sure. But Sirius inherited all of the Black family fortune. From what I gathered, the Black family were despicable, but they're richer than even the Malfoys and the Potters combined. He converted enough of it into a muggle bank account and we now have a six bedroom house in central London." Delilah explained.

Hermione did a double-take.

"Aren't they in excess of five-million pounds?" Hermione asked.

"Yep." John said, simply.

"Blimey. So you now have it pretty good then. And how are Sirius and Remus?" Ron asked.

"They're doing good. Remus is still job-hunting, but he's happy anyway. He always manages to find a way to keep himself busy. Sirius has loads of work to do almost all the time though, especially with Pettigrew escaping Azkaban whilst a Quidditch world cup is being held in Britain." Harry explained.

Before they could take the final flight of stairs upwards, Percy's head poked out from behind his door.

"Could you keep it down? Oh, hello there." said Percy upon noticing the guests.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"I have a report to write for work, and it's not easy with everyone thundering about the house." Percy said irritably.

"We're not thundering, we're just walking normally." Ron retorted.

"What are you working on?" Harry asked.

The look on Ron's face told Harry immediately that Ron wasn't remotely interested, but Percy's face lit up.

"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation. We're trying to standardize he thickness of cauldron bottoms. Some foreign imports are just too thin." Percy said.

"Revolutionary work right there." Ron quipped. The others had to refrain from laughing.

Percy blushed.

"Sneer now if you like Ron, but when you're purchasing a shoddy cauldron which begins to leak-" Percy began.

"Yeah, we get it. We'll try to keep it down." Ron interrupted, trying to avoid Percy's imminent tirade.

Percy huffed and slammed his door shut before Ron lead the others back upstairs.

Ron's room was largely the same as ever before, though now it had beanbags, courtesy of Sirius. It was a small change to Ron's orange-painted sanctuary, but a welcome one.

The six of them spent a further hour catching up, before they were all called back downstairs for dinner.

"We'll be eating dinner outside today, there simply isn't enough room for thirteen people." Mrs. Weasley said.

She was preparing a great number of dishes, and as usual, Harry found himself marvelling at how adept she was at cooking so many different things at once.

She picked up her wand to start having the dishes wash themselves, but it emitted a loud squeak and turned into a rubber mouse.

"NOT AGAIN! I TOLD YOU TWO NOT TO LEAVE THESE LYING AROUND!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed.

"One of Fred and George's Fake wands. Let's just bring the food outside." Ron said, looking warily at his livid mother.

After what must have felt like the nine millionth scolding for Fred and George, dinner was all set outside, and was generally an enjoyable affair. Eventually, the conversation turned to the upcoming Hogwarts year.

"Of course the department's very busy at the moment. After the world cup, there's another massive event to organize. The top secret one." Percy said, smugly.

"Oh, of course. In fact, this year you'll need dress robes." said Mr. Weasley.

"Dress robes? What for?" Ron asked.

"I'd rather not spoil everything. Suffice it to say that something big will be happening this year, and a particular Christmas event will mean that you will need them." Percy said cryptically.

"Christmas you say? Mind if I buy yours guys? I'd rather not think about getting you a Christmas present on Christmas eve and be forced to show up with a half eaten chocolate frog for each of you at the last minute." said John, smirking. He was referring to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Delilah, Ginny, Fred and George.

Everyone laughed, though that did sound like a good idea. John had a habit of forgetting things. He may not have been on Neville's level, but his forgetfulness wasn't to be trifled with.

"Well it would certainly beat last year's effort." Hermione quipped. John had bought her a book which Hermione had already talked about having read. Needless to say, John was not listening when Hermione was talking about said book.

"I wouldn't mind." Ron shrugged.

"You'll be at the world cup though." Mrs. Weasley pointed out.

"It's OK. I'll just leave my Gringotts key with you. You're not exactly about to rob me." said John.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened. Clearly they weren't expecting that much trust from John, but Harry, John and Delilah all knew that the Weasleys would never dream of taking advantage of the Potters' wealth. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't spend a single knut outside buying what was on the Hogwarts list and the dress robes.

"I'll write down the costs of each set and give it to you when you get back, alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked. She was intent on not abusing John's trust.

"Yeah, that's fine. Also, I don't mind how expensive they are, as long as they're not... I dunno, more than let's say... fifty galleons a set." said John.

"Oh I doubt I'll find anything more expensive than that." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Perfect. That's a chunk of my Christmas present list sorted." said John.

"You know... that's lazy, thoughtful and clever at the same time." Delilah quipped.

John shrugged.

Before long though, the sun began to set, and Mrs. Weasley pointed out that they had to wake up extremely early in the morning to arrive on time at the world cup.

"If you want to have some space and actually explore the venue, then you should be leaving at the crack of dawn." said Mrs. Weasley.

"Explore the venue? So it's not just a stadium?" John asked.

"Hardly! It will almost look something like a portable village!" said Mr. Weasley laughing.

That in itself was an intriguing statement that was on everyone's minds as they headed back inside.


	2. Witnesses

Mrs. Weasley was not making idle threats about the time they needed to be awake for the next morning. They were awoken at no later than four in the morning, much to John's ire.

"The match isn't even until five in the evening." he grumbled.

"Dad says we've got a pretty long walk ahead." said Ron, equally disgruntled.

Ron and Mr. Weasley weren't wrong about the walk. It was five in the morning by the time they had left, and Mr. Weasley led the way for what seemed like at least half an hour before anything of note happened. They came accross a wizard and his son, who was a familiar face. It was Cedric Diggory, and the man next to him was presumably his father.

Ginny and Hermione exchanged a look which had rather obvious connotations when they saw Cedric again.

"Amos! Good to see you!" said Mr. Weasley.

"Arthur! It's about time!" said Mr. Diggory, shaking Mr. Weasley's hand.

"And who are these fine young ladies and gentlemen?" he added as Cedric then shook Mr. Weasley's hand.

"These are my sons, Ron, Fred and George and my daughter Ginny." said Mr. Weasley, motioning towards his children.

"And I'm John Potter. That's... well... you know." said John. Hermione was about to introduce herself, but as expected, Mr. Diggory did what was now something of a formality for Harry - fawning over him.

Though it could never be said that Diggory senior was purely in awe of Harry - he boasted about how Cedric beat Harry almost a year back in Quidditch, in spite of Cedric's protests regarding Harry falling off his broom.

"Always the modest one my Cedric! One player falls off his broom and his opponent doesn't! No genius is needed to find out which is the better flyer!" Said Mr. Diggory.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? Though things do get a bit... skewed when dementors show up though." Delilah said, dryly.

Hermione gave Delilah an incredulous look, but Ron snorted and held back his laughter.

"Demen- Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know." said Mr. Diggory.

"It's fine. We won the cup anyway." said John, with a more subtle form of his regular smugness.

Hermione rolled her eyes. She had long since given up on dealing with John's ego.

"So where are we heading?" she asked, changing the subject.

"We're heading to a portkey. It'll take us to the venue." said Mr. Diggory.

"What's a portkey?" Harry whispered to Mr. Weasley once they'd got back to moving along on their journey.

"Well it could be anything. They are objects that are enchanted to transport the users from one given destination to another at a given time. We have to use innocuous objects so muggles don't take them. The one we're heading to is an old boot." Mr. Weasley explained.

Harry nodded.

"And what about the venue? I can't imagine muggles won't notice thousands of wizards at Twickenham stadium or something." said John.

"Twickenham?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"The home of the England rugby team." Harry explained.

"Ah, I see. Well we aren't going to a built up area. Wizards use temporary stadiums for bigger events, you see. It'll have enchantments similar to the ones used by Hogwarts so that muggles don't stumble across it." said Mr. Weasley.

"Interesting... and I'm guessing we'll be seeing people from all over the world then?" John asked.

"Yes, though I daresay most will be from Europe, given that it's an Ireland-Bulgaria game." said Mr. Weasley.

"Shame. I don't know why, but I've always wanted to meet Americans." said John.

"You may still see some." said Mr. Weasley.

Within another five minutes, they had arrived at the aforementioned portkey, and it was, as Mr. Weasley said, an old boot. A very manky old boot. Delilah immediately pulled a disgusted face upon seeing it.

"It's cleaner than it looks. Just a few glamour charms." said Cedric, laughing.

"If you say so." Delilah said warily.

The wizards and witches all placed their hands on the boot, and before they knew it, the world around them began to spin out of control, and they realized that they had left the ground.

They were flying through the air with the wind howling around them, and without warning, landed on the ground a mere thirty seconds later with a loud thud, on top of and entangled amongst each other in a heap.

"Stoatshead hill, seven past five arriving on schedule." said a voice.

John shoved Harry off himself and onto his feet in one swift motion.

"How the hell did you get that strong?" Harry grumbled.

"Diet, and Sirius' exercise routine." John said simply, smirking as he did so.

John decided to try and keep up with Sirius' very rigorous exercise routine, which, as a hit-wizard for the magical law enforcement department, was not short of muscle building exercise. John was always naturally strong, but he was now stronger than a lot of grown men, and thankfully, given that Harry was now eating properly and consistently, he had put on some muscle. He wasn't as skinny as he used to be, and was now not much shorter than John either. John now stood at roughly five foot ten, and Harry was about five foot eight. Of course neither of them were as tall as Ron, who was already six feet tall.

Cedric and his father said their goodbyes and went off to find their tents.

Mr. Weasley (with help from Hermione) paid for their tents, and walked them all over to them. The two tents looked far too small for two people each, let alone the twelve people that were expected to be in the two of them.

But when Harry walked inside the men's tent, he immediately knew how this would work. The tents were bigger on the inside. Not just bigger on the inside though... they resembled houses.

"What the..." he said.

"This is some Dr. Who shit right here." said John, bluntly.

"What's Dr. Who?" Ron asked.

"A muggle TV show."said Harry.

"What's a muggle TV show got to do with this tent?" Ron asked.

"The Doctor, the main character that is, has a... structure that's bigger on the inside." said John, trying to simplify the concept of a space and time machine to avoid a lengthy explanation of the phenomenon that was Dr. Who.

"Fair enough. Want to take a look at the girls' tent?" Ron asked.

"Sure." said Harry.

The girls' tent was largely the same as the men's one, only smaller due to the smaller number of people in it.

"So the match is meant to start at seven, we have ages." said Ginny.

"That's why I brought these." said Delilah.

In her larger bag, Delilah had brought the boxing gloves and sparring pads that Sirius had bought. He had been teaching them a bit of hand-to hand combat over the summer. Harry, John and Delilah were by no means hand-to-hand combat experts, but they, especially John had learnt fast.

"You want to spar? How did you even know we'd be able to? I mean, I'm up for it, but we're going to a world cup for God's sake." Harry said, in surprise.

"Charlie was telling me about these tents." Delilah said simply.

"Hold on... what are those even for?" Ron asked.

"Protection. Remember how I told you that Sirius is teaching us how to fight? He got us these for practice." said Harry.

"And I really want to be able to hold my own against someone bigger than me. Sirius said it's important given that strange stuff has started to happen." said Delilah.

"And I imagine self-defense is important for anyone, period." said Hermione.

"Yep. So, you want to go now?" John asked.

"If you don't mind?" Delilah said, putting on her gloves and padded helmet.

"You two should watch. I can teach you as well if you like." said John.

"Yeah, sounds good." said Ron.

"Why am I not surprised that John's the one teaching this?" Hermione asked. John allowed himself to grin slightly.

"Well... you look at the size of the git and you can imagine that he picks this stuff up easily." said Harry.

John put on his pads, and he and Delilah began. Hermione and Ginny watched intently, since they found it prudent for girls to be able to fend off attackers given the size disadvantage most girls had.

They wasn't encouraged by what they saw though. John was not only almost twice the weight of Delilah, but he was faster too. It was painfully obvious he was holding back.

John parried most of Delilah's strikes, and the ones which Delilah actually landed didn't even affect him.

"Remember what Sirius said about bigger guys?" John said as he caught Delilah's arm.

"Legs." Harry hinted.

Delilah nodded and began to target John's legs.

"John's starting to look almost... scary." Hermione muttered to Ron. She was visibly impressed though.

"Yeah... hope I can pick up on this as fast as him." said Ron.

Soon enough, and predictably so, Delilah was tired out and Harry took his place.

Harry fared much better than Delilah did, and was able to keep up with John when it came to speed. In fact, Harry was noticeably faster. The problem was the almost hilarious strength difference. Any time John got close enough to Harry, he pinned him and they had to restart.

"I reckon Ron'll be better than this sorry lot." said John, smirking as he threw Harry to the floor yet again.

"Oi!" Harry barked.

"Well... he isn't totally wrong." Delilah said sheepishly.

"Any of you want to have a go? It doesn't have to be against me, and I'll walk you through a bunch of stuff first." said John, asking Hermione, Ginny and Ron.

Ginny was about to volunteer, before Mr. Weasley arrived.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we need some water. The map the muggle gave us marks a tap in the field, do you mind? Oh, and Ginny, come help us out with firewood" Mr. Weasley said.

"Alright. We'll teach you guys later." said Harry.

"I hope you don't mind, but I'd prefer if John took the lead on that." said Hermione, laughing.

Whilst walking in the open fields, heading towards the water source, they heard a familiar voice calling for John.

"John! Over here!" Katie Bell was waving towards them from outside her tent.

A grin spread over John's face, and he went over to greet his girlfriend.

"I got your last letter about you coming here, but I didn't expect to find you!" said Katie, leaping into John's arms.

"Neither did I. No complaints of course." John said, wryly.

"Hi everyone." said Katie once she'd let go of John.

Everyone said hello to Katie, before they continued towards the tap on the map, though John stayed behind to hang out with Katie.

"I'll be back at the girls' tent later. Don't wait for me!" he said. Katie blushed when John said 'don't wait for me' but she looked very pleased all the same.

* * *

John duly came back to the tent roughly ten minutes after the others had returned, with a smirk on his face, and some lipstick on his collarbone. They all spent the rest of the day talking about the match to come, and making the occasional purchase, such as pairs of omnioculars, or John buying a hat that would sing 'Ireland's call' when he tapped it with his wand.

Eventually it was time to head to their seats, and Mr. Weasley had managed to get seats in the top box alongside the minister himself. Harry stared in awe at the enormous stadium.

"It seats a hundred thousand at capacity, and funnily enough, we are at capacity. A five-hundred strong task force from the ministry was working on this for a year, with muggle protection charms and all." Mr. Weasley explained.

It truly was impressive - bigger than Wembley or Twickenham by far, especially taking into account how large Quidditch pitches already were.

After meeting Winky, a house elf whom Harry initially mistook for Dobby, they sat with Fudge, the Bulgarian minister, Ludo Bagman, and some other guests, some of whom hadn't yet shown up. When the first of the currently absent guests did though, Delilah let out an audible groan.

"Good lord Arthur, what did you have to sell to get these seats?"

It was Lucius Malfoy, alongside Draco Malfoy and a woman who was presumably Mrs. Malfoy.

She was tall, slim and graceful looking. Harry would have found her attractive if she didn't have a permanent facial expression that suggested that someone was holding a pile of dung under her nose.

The minister busied himself introducing the Bulgarian minister to Malfoy senior and his wife, whilst Draco sat down beside Ron.

"Can't imagine your house would have fetched the money to get these seats Weasley. Out with it, what did your dad sell? Your mum?" Malfoy asked with a lowered voice so that the adults couldn't hear him, including the older Weasley siblings and Fred and George.

"Had a bit of experience with mothers selling themselves Malfoy? Or did your mum do it of her own accord?" Ron retorted. Harry let out a bark of laughter, and Ginny was desperately holding back her own. Hermione did not approve of the type of retort Ron was using, and Delilah looked guilty about finding it funny. Fred and George shared no such guilt.

"Can't blame her for wanting to get away from your sorry arse. And your dad's. Even if it means getting railed by strange men every other night." John added.

"How many siblings do you have again?" Malfoy shot back.

"Congratulations Malfoy, you've figured out that married couples have sex and want children on occasion." John said tiredly.

Before things got ugly, Ludo Bagman, the head of the department of magical games made the announcement which got the ceremony for the final started, and the animosity was forgotten as everyone watched the pitch.

The Bulgarian team mascots arrived, but they didn't look like any mascots that any of them had ever seen.

"Veela!" Mr. Weasley informed them.

Veela as it turned out, were just women. Exceedingly beautiful women. Inhumanly beautiful... they couldn't be human, could they? How could their skin and hair be glowing like that?

Such questions were irrelevant when the veela began to dance. Nothing else in the world mattered in that moment.

Hermione, Delilah and Ginny looked disgusted at their friends' (and Malfoy's) display of outright oggling.

"John! You have a girlfriend!" Hermione cried indignantly.

John didn't seem to hear her.

"They have... shall I say... something of a profound effect on men, and it's far more pronounced in younger men. They can't help it, it's one of the powers that veela have." Mr. Weasley explained with his forefingers in his ears. Hermione saw that the minister, Mr. Malfoy and the other older men in the box were doing the same.

"Can I snap them out of it?" Hermione asked.

"Well next time the veela dance, you should remind them to cover their ears. For now, just poke them until they stop or something." said Mr. Weasley, who was doing just that to Ron.

The Irish followed with a spectacular fireworks display and leprechauns descended onto the field, alongside showers of gold which bounced all over the stadium. It wasn't long before the floor was stripped clean of every single coin, and soon enough, the teams flew out onto the field, and it was time for the match to begin.

And what a match it was. The gameplay was at such a fast pace that Bagman didn't even bother describing the actions of the players on the field - he simply said their names.

Also, whenever Krum did something of note, Ron would absolutely fawn over him.

"Are you gay? It's totally fine if you are, you know." said John, causing Ginny to burst out laughing.

Ron wasn't listening - he was engrossed in the match.

* * *

When the match had finished (in Ireland's favour), the Bulgarian minister made a rather amusing revelation.

"Ve faught bravely." he said gloomily.

"You can speak English! You've had me miming everything all day!" Fudge replied, outraged.

John laughed loudly at this, and Fudge looked at him with narrowed eyes. He still hadn't forgotten how John made him look like a fool in Hagrid's hut one and a half years ago.

"Can we just... swap ministers?" John whispered to Harry, who smirked.

"Well Weasley, I hope you enjoyed the experience... while it lasted. Not like you'll be able to pay for anything like that again." said Malfoy.

"I did actually. Reminded me of how Gryffindor beat Slytherin last year to win the Quidditch cup." said Ron.

John and Harry let out 'ooohs' at that response - it was one of Ron's better one-liners.

No one could stop talking about the match for hours when they went back to the tents. Katie had joined them, and she too supported Ireland but agreed with everyone's assessment of Krum being by far the best and most exciting player on the pitch.

"He's more than an athlete! He's an artist!" Ron said.

"A lot of people like Krum Ron but... wow." said Harry.

"You saw him out there!" Ron replied enthusiastically.

Mr. Weasley and Charlie had gone into a play-by-play analysis of what Ireland were doing and had reached a disagreement.

"But Moran had Levski caught out!" Charlie yelled.

Hermione, in spite of thouroughly enjoying the match, was not getting caught up in the post-match commentary. Surprisingly, neither were John and Katie. Yes, they were together, but both of them were Quidditch players. For once, Harry was surprised that they had snuck off.

Eventually though, Mr. Weasley decided that it was best that they all turn in.

"Delilah, do you mind finding John?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"No problem." she replied, heading out of the tent.

"I don't evny those on duty today. Imagine telling the Irish they've got to stop celebrating..." said Mr. Weasley, chuckling to himself. The Irish were still being exceptionally loud.

Ron and Harry had the same bunk bed, with Harry on the top bunk. They continued discussing the match in whispers until Delilah and John returned. But Harry was shocked to see Delilah in tears, and John with his arm around her shoulder.

"Delilah? What happened?" Ron asked, getting out of bed, with Harry following.

"Well... remember how Machado said he wasn't going to the world cup?" John said.

"Yeah..." said Harry.

"He actually did come. We just caught him with some French girl." said John, his face and tone betraying no emotions.

"What the hell... Delilah, are you alright?" Harry asked, putting his hand on Delilah's shoulder.

Ron looked furious.

"You punched him in the face, right?" Ron asked.

"Kicked his arse so hard that he'll be shitting sideways for a month." John replied, bluntly.

"Good. Alright Delilah, just... sit down, I'll get some water or something." said Harry, wanting to busy himself.

"Th-thanks." she said, her sobs beginning to subside.

"Want us to get Hermione? Ginny?" Ron asked.

"No, it's fine. Let them sleep, I'll tell them later." said Delilah.

"Sure?" John asked.

"I'm sure. Thank you. Also, thanks for annihilating him earlier too." she said, chuckling slightly tearfully.

"Any time. If you want a repeat performance, don't hesitate to ask. Though I reckon Ron and Harry also want a go." said John.

"Dead right." said Harry, giving Delilah a glass of water.

Delilah smiled at the boys and shook her head.

"Come on. We should go to bed." said Ron.

* * *

Harry wasn't sure when his conscious fantasies had slipped into his dreams - they involved Bagman's voice announcing his name at a packed stadium at a Quidditch world cup final, playing for England. He would be facing off against Krum, and flying circles around him, and vague images of Cho Chang cheering him on from a box which he somehow kept an eye on would occasionally show up, but his fantastical dreams were interrupted by Mr. Weasley yelling.

"Ron! Harry! John, wake up! It's urgent!" he yelled.

Harry groaned and got off the bed, confused.

"Dad... what's going on?" Ron asked.

Screams could be heard in the distance, and there was a distinct smell of smoke.

"Grab a jacket and get outside! Quickly!" Mr. Weasley said urgently.

The manic expression on Mr. Weasley's face meant that Harry didn't need to be told twice. But by the time they got outside, everything was complete chaos, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Delilah and John found themselves separated from the Fred, George and Ginny, though Mr. Weasley, Percy, Charlie and Bill told them to head for the woods. And it didn't take them long to figure out why. Dozens of wizards in masks and black hooded cloaks were running amok throughout the massive campsite, setting tents ablaze at random.

In a central clearing, four or so of them could be seen performing a grotesque and humiliating act to the campsite's manager and his wife and young children. They had put them in a trance and levitated them sixty feet in the air, spinning them and cackling with glee.

"That's sick. That's fucking disgusting." Ron said, grimacing.

Hermione didn't bother to correct Ron's language this time. There weren't any other words to describe what was happening.

"Who the hell are these people?" Harry asked.

The central hooded figure tipped Mrs. Roberts upside down. Her nightdress began to fall and she tried desperately to cover herself up. The figures on he ground roared with laughter.

"Fuck... How can you even-" Ron started.

"How can you _enjoy_ this... I mean... a show of force is a show of force, but these people are actually enjoying this!" Delilah seethed.

"Come on... we really don't want to watch this." said Hermione, and they hurried off further into the woods.

Thousands of figures were scurrying through the woods, children were crying with anxious parents trying to placate them, panicked shouts for help and friendly faces were all around them, and the fact that the lights leading to the stadium had been extinguished did nothing to help. Suddenly, Ron yelled out in pain.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Oh this is stupid... Lumos!" said Hermione, whipping out her wand.

"Tripped over a tree root." said Ron, getting up off the floor.

"With feet that size, you'd think you'd be used to it by now." came a drawling voice which never failed to make Harry groan in frustration.

"Go fuck yourself." Ron grunted.

"Language Weasley." said Malfoy, his eyes glinting with mischief.

"Shouldn't you lot be hurrying along now? Wouldn't want those two spotted." he added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Delilah asked, taking a step towards Malfoy threateningly. Apparently she was still angry at Machado.

"They're after muggles." said Malfoy, simply.

"They're witches." John said in a bored voice.

"I'm surprised you forgot Malfoy. They keep beating you in every test. I know for a fact that your dad's not happy about that." said Harry.

Malfoy's face flashed with surprise momentarily, before he recovered.

"Well the thing is Dursley... you've already proven that you mudbloods are all show. You're not as smart as your grades suggest. All you can do is regurgitate stuff you read." said Malfoy.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked angrily.

"Antonio of course. He and I made a bet last year. I bet he couldn't get Dursley or Granger to like him. I lost, but I'm kind of happy I did." said Malfoy smugly.

Delilah's eyes narrowed, and before she lunged at Malfoy, John grabbed her wrist.

"If it was just a bet, why did he stay with her for so long?" he challenged.

"Don't know. My best guess though? He liked feeling you up. Mudblood or not, tits are tits. Have to say, Granger's not looking to bad either. Good thing I've got better taste though." said Malfoy, looking Hermione up and down.

Harry and Ron looked ready to take their wands out, and Hermione's face was contorted into a look of rage on par with the day when she hit Malfoy. John now had to wrap his arm around Delilah to prevent her from lashing out. No one could remember Delilah ever looking so furious. John himself had half a mind to push Delilah back and throw Malfoy into a tree.

"Better taste... like what? Parkinson? Bullstrode? I mean if you're into bestiality I'm not one to judge, but... I wouldn't call those two swamp donkeys 'better'." said John, somehow keeping his temper in check.

Malfoy's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.

"Least they're not mudbloods." Malfoy mumbled.

"Stop saying that!" Ron barked.

"Forget it, let's just go and find the others." Hermione said, tugging on his and Harry's sleeves.

John finally saw it as safe to release Delilah.

"Keep that bushy head of yours down Granger!" Malfoy sneered.

Hermione went slightly pink but remained resolute.

"Come on!" she said to the others.

"Don't listen to him. You're both about six thousand times better looking than anything he'll ever get." said John.

Delilah smiled, and Hermione blushed slightly harder.

"Thanks John." she said.

Soon afterwards, they came across a group of young wizards and withes roughly their age in a huddle. A curly-haired girl stepped forwards.

"Ou est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue..." she said.

"Hang on... I'm trying to remember some French..." said John, pausing.

"Nous sommes... Anglais? Je sius desole." he said, with a somewhat crude French accent.

"Nous sommes etudians Hogwarts." said Hermione, aiding John, with a more convincing French accent.

"Ah, oui." said the French girl, turning back to her friends.

"Beauxbatons." said Hermione.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Beauxbatons. A school in France, I read about it in _An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe_." said Hermione.

"Oh... of course." said Harry.

"Fred and George can't be too far ahead." said Ron, pulling his wand out and lighting it up like Hermione's. Delilah and John did so as well.

Harry dug around in his pockets, and his stomach lurched when he could only find his omnioculars in there.

"No... I've lost my wand!" he said.

"You're joking..." Ron said.

They looked around the floor in proximity to them, but couldn't find it.

"I must've left it back in the tent." said Harry.

He felt very vulnerable without it - especially given that there were masked lunatics running about.

"We'll get dad or someone to summon it, don't worry." Ron said reassuringly.

They heard a sudden rustling coming from the bushes, and out came Winky the house elf, moving as if someone or something was holding her back. Every step she made looked lacking in purpose, and her head was constantly twitching and looking about like a gazelle on the lookout for a lion.

"There is bad wizards! Bad wizards in cloaks! Winky is not staying in one place while they is here!" she shrieked upon recognizing Harry.

She swiftly disappeared behind the treeline, fighting whatever force was restraining her all along the way.

"Why's she moving like that?" Ron wondered.

"Probably didn't ask for permission to hide or something." said Harry, with Dobby's consistent self flagellation in mind.

"You know, house elves get a very raw deal!" Hermione said indignantly. "This is outright slavery! Winky was up in the stadium on Crouch's orders, even though she's afraid of heights! And he's got her bewitched so that she can't even run properly when there's danger afoot! Someone has to put a stop to it!"

"I wonder who that someone'll be." John quipped.

"Wasn't she saying stuff like 'house elves is not supposed to have fun'? Sounds like they prefer being bossed around and all." Ron mused.

"It's people like you Ron." Hermione began hotly. "Who prop up immoral and unjust systems, just because you're too lazy!" Hermione seethed.

"Hermione, they want to be bossed around. They want to serve wizards. I have no idea why, but they aren't human, they don't think like us. Yeah, some of them get awful masters, but I think you're... I don't know how best to put it... _projecting_ your own ideals onto them." said Delilah.

"Besides, remember that Harry freed Dobby, and even though Dobby's free, he's been _looking_ for work, according to Winky." said John.

"Well they still shouldn't be treated as poorly as-" she began before a loud bang threw them out of the discussion.

"Let's keep moving." said Ron, looking warily at Hermione and Delilah. He was likely thinking the same as Harry. Maybe Malfoy was right, and Hermione and Delilah really were in more danger than the boys.


	3. Blast from the past

Trekking through the woods, searching for Fred, George and Ginny was pointless, Harry realized. There were so many people there that they'd likely never find them, and so Harry decided that it was best that they waited inside a small clearing, which was quieter than most of the other areas, and so they'd be able to hear people coming.

They sat down in silence at the clearing, and listened out for any noises of the riot at the campsite, but heard nothing. Perhaps it was over?

"I hope the others are okay." said Hermione.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." said Ron, fiddling with his pair of omnioculars.

"Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy though." said, Harry, nudging Ron. "You said he'd love to get something on him."

"It'd wipe the smirk of Draco's face permanently." Ron said dreamily.

"Those poor muggles though... what if they can't get them down?" Delilah wondered.

"They will. I mean... it's a levitation charm, I'm pretty sure a ministry squad can reverse it. They'll probably alter their memories too." said John.

"It's completely mad though... pulling a stunt like that while the whole ministry's out tonight!" said Hermione. "How did they expect to get away with it? Or were they just drunk? Or-"

Hermione stopped abruptly - she had heard something nearby. Listening closely, the others heard it too - footsteps. Uneven footsteps, which came to a sudden stop.

"Who's there?" Harry asked with a raised voice. It didn't seem that whoever it was managed to hear him, as nothing but silence followed. However, with no warning, the silence was broken by the voice which presumably belonged to the man who was making the footstep sounds. It wasn't a panicked shout or an attempt to get Harry's attention. No, this sounded like an incantation.

"MORSMORDRE!"

Something enormous and green burst forth from the darkness and it flew up above the treeline. Far above it, so that anyone from miles around could see it.

"What..." Delilah started, before the green matter began to take a shape. The green, glowing mass of smokey substance took the form of a skull, with a massive serpent protruding from the mouth, like a tongue. Hundreds of screams of terror could now be heard from every direction, and Harry had no idea why, but the only explanation was the animated figure in the sky.

Hermione's eyes widened. She'd recognized it.

"We have to move. Now!" she said, hurriedly.

"What? What is that?" John asked.

"It's the dark mark! _His_ mark!" Hermione replied.

"What... Voldemort?" John replied.

"Just... come on!" Hermione urged.

But before they could set off anywhere with any purpose, twenty wizards appeared from seemingly nowhere, all casting a spell with raised voices.

"STUPEFY!" they yelled.

"Duck!" Harry bellowed without thinking, and the spells ricocheted around off trees and dissipated.

"STOP! THAT'S MY SON!" Came a familiar voice. It was Mr. Weasley, sprinting in between the many wizards, who Harry assumed represented the Ministry.

"Step aside Arthur." said a curt, but cold voice.

It was Mr. Crouch. He and the other wizards were closing in on the youngsters.

"Which of you did it? Which of you conjured the dark mark?" he snapped.

Hermione and Delilah looked terrified, Harry confused, but Ron and John's jaws dropped.

"Have you lost your fucking mind?" John asked incredulously.

"We didn't do anything!" Ron said indignantly.

"Don't lie sir! One of you did it! You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!" Crouch retorted, looking completely crazed.

"We wouldn't even know how!" Harry said.

"Barty, they're just kids! How would they?" Mr. Weasley tried.

"Wait... where did the mark come from?" Mr. Weasley asked quickly.

Hermione lifted a shaky arm and pointed to the spot where the voice came from.

"O-over there. Someone was behind those trees... said some incantation." said Hermione.

"Oh, stood over there did they?" said Crouch, taking two menacing steps towards Hermione.

"Said an incantation did they? You seem awfully well informed as to how one would conjure the mark." said Crouch.

"Fuck me... is all the ministry this daft?" John said.

Crouch turned on John with a mad look in his eye.

"Excuse me?" he challenged.

"All she said was that there was an incantation, how the fuck does that mean she's well-informed? It's conjured so of course you'll need a damn incantation!" said John.

"Forget that, because how the hell would _she_ know? She's muggleborn! You know who hated people like her!" Ron added.

None of the other ministry wizards remotely believed that it was any of the youngsters. They had their wands pointed at the spot Hermione pointed at.

"We're too late. Whoever did it must have disapparated." said a witch in a woolen dressing gown.

"I don't think so. Our stunners went right through those trees." said Amos Diggory.

"We must've got someone." he added, looking around the area.

A few seconds later, Diggory let out a shout.

"Wait! But... what?" he said.

He emerged from the trees a few seconds later, carrying a small, limp figure in his arms. The tea towel was recognized by Harry immediately - it was Winky the house elf.

Mr Crouch went white.

"It... can't be." he said.

"She's the only one who was there." said Diggory.

"Amos, it can't be the elf. The dark mark needs a wand to be conjured anyway." said Mr. Weasley.

"She had one." said Diggory, lifting the wand for Mr. Weasley and Crouch to see.

"Even so, how would she know how to conjure it?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"We should hear what she has to say for herself. _Ennervate"_ said Mr. Diggory.

Winky woke up with a start, and looked around her, obviously very confused.

"Elf, do you know who I am? I am a member of the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures." he said firmly.

Winky was breathing in sharp bursts, and rocking back and forth in terror. Harry was forcibly reminded of Dobby's terror when he was disobedient to the Malfoys.

"As you can see, the dark mark was conjured here. You were found at the scene of the crime with a wand in your hand." said Diggory fiercely, holding the wand up. Under the green light of the dark mark above, Harry recognized it immediately.

"Hey! That's mine!" Harry said.

"Yours?" Diggory asked. Everyone in the clearing stared at Harry.

"Yeah, I dropped it earlier!" said Harry.

"Dropped it earlier? Is that a confession?" Diggory asked in disbelief.

"Amos! Look at who you're talking to! Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark mark?" Mr. Weasley asked angrily.

"Err... no. I got carried away." Diggory mumbled.

"I didn't drop it there anyway." said Harry, pointing to the spot where the mark was conjured. "I was missing it for at least an hour."

"So elf... you found this wand and decided you'd have a bit of fun with it then?" Diggory asked nastily.

"I is not doing it sir! I is not knowing how!" Winky squeaked, tears streaming down her face.

"It wasn't her! Winky's got a squeaky, high pitched voice, and the voice we heard was much deeper!" said Hermione, looking to her friends for support.

"Yeah, it definitely wasn't her. The voice we heard wasn't even close to being an elf voice." said Ron.

"It was a human male voice actually." Delilah said.

"Well we'll soon see regardless." said Diggory. "There's a way to find out what the previous spell cast by a wand was, did you know that elf?" Diggory asked.

Winky shook her head vigorously, her ears flapping about as she did so.

Diggory pulled his own wand out, and touched it tip to tip with Harry's.

"Prior Incantato!" he roared.

Harry heard Hermione gasp when another green skull with a protruding serpent emerged from the wands, though it looked greyer and more smoky. The ghost of a spell perhaps.

"Deletrius!" said Diggory, and the smaller version of the mark vanished.

"So elf... caught at the scene of the crime, carrying the guilty wand!" said Diggory triumphantly.

"Amos... think about what you're saying. There are precious few wizards who know how to cast the mark themselves, how would she have learned it? You-know-who hated elves, and so did his followers, how could she have learned it?" Mr. Weasley said reasonably.

"Perhaps..." Mr. Crouch started. "Amos, you are suggesting that I routinely teach my servants how to cast the dark mark? Tell them to cast it at public events? he asked, with fury radiating from every syllably.

Mr. Diggory looked horrified.

"N-no Mr. Crouch! I never meant to..." Diggory replied desperately.

"You have come close to accusing the two least likely people present of conjuring the dark Mark. You are familiar, I am sure with Harry Potter's story?" Mr. Crouch asked.

"Of course... everyone knows." Diggory mumbled.

"And have I not proven time and again that I despise the dark arts? Those who use them? Everything they stand for?" Crouch asked, his eyes bulging.

"Mr. Crouch, I never suggested you have anything to do with it!" Mr. Diggory said loudly.

"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me!" Crouch retorted angrily.

"She... could have picked it up anywhere!" Diggory forced out.

"Exactly! She could have picked it up anywhere! Winky, can you tell us where you found the wand?" Mr. Weasley said, taking the wand and holding it up, before handing it back to Harry, who suddenly felt complete with it back in his possession.

"I is picking it up there sir... in the trees." she said, pointing a shaky finger.

"You see Amos? She picked up the wand, which was used by the real caster, before he dropped the wand and disapparated. Clever thing to do, using another's wand instead of his own, which could betray him. Winky though... she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." said Mr. Weasley.

"But then she'd have been mere feet from the real culprit!" said Diggory impatiently. "Did you see anyone?" he asked.

Winky looked from Crouch to Diggory to Mr. Weasley, looking terrified all the way.

"No sir... I is seeing no one." she replied fearfully.

"Amos." Mr. Crouch piped up. "I understand that usually it would be on you and your department to deal with this situation, but I would like to deal with it myself. Rest assured she will be punished." said Crouch, coldly looking at Winky.

"M... Master?" Winky asked.

"You have been disobedient Winky. You have given no thought to your master's orders, and no thought to his reputation. This means _clothes_." said Mr. Crouch.

Winky burst into tears and clutched at Crouch's leg.

"No master! Not clothes! Please!" she begged.

It was sad and pathetic seeing the tiny elf breaking down like that and clinging onto Crouch's leg. Harry knew that clothes were the way to free a house elf from their master.

"But she was frightened!" Hermione burst out in fury. "Your elf is afraid of heights, and those wizards were levitating people! How could you blame her for wanting to get away!"

Mr. Crouch took a step backwards, away from Winky's grasp, and looked at Hermione coldly.

"I have no use for an elf who disobeys her master." he said simply.

"So you'd prefer that she stayed, and got levitated and humiliated by those wizards instead? Someone who's afraid of heights being levitated sixty feet in the air is a better option to you than have your orders disobeyed?" Hermione challenged.

"Hermione, we need to go." said Mr. Weasley.

Hermione wasn't listening.

"Hermione!" Ron said, snapping her out of it.

Mr. Weasley left the clearing with the youngsters, heading back towards the tents.

"What's going to happen to Winky?" Hermione asked, after thirty seconds of walking in silence.

"I don't know." said Mr. Weasley truthfully.

"But... the way they were treating her! Mr. Diggory calling her 'elf' all the time... and Mr. Crouch! He didn't care about how terrified she was, and he knew she didn't do it, and sacked her anyway! It's like she wasn't even human!" said Hermione.

"Err... she isn't." said Ron.

"That doesn't mean she's got no feelings! It's digusting, the way-" Hermione started.

"Hermione, calm down, I know they're not treating her right, I'm just saying that she isn't a human." said Ron.

"Hermione, I agree with you, but now's not the time to discuss elf rights. The dark mark was just cast. There are bigger and more serious matters at hand." said Mr. Weasley.

"How? He's not back!" Hermione retorted.

"No, but if his mark is being used, then he's up to something." said Mr. Weasley.

No one said another word until they arrived back at the tent. Words of 'is he back?' or 'did someone die?' could be heard around the campsite.

Charlie's head was poking out when they arrived.

"Dad! Fred, George and Ginny got back OK!" he said.

"Good." said Mr. Weasley in relief, before leading the rest of them into the tent.

Bill was sat at the kitchen table, holding a bedsheet to his arm, which was bleeding profusely. Charlie's shirt was ripped, and Percy was sporting a bloody nose. Fred, George and Ginny were alright, but looked quite shaken.

"Did you get them dad? The person who conjured the dark mark?" Bill asked, gritting his teeth through the pain on his arm.

"No. We found Mr. Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser on the real culprit." said Mr. Weasley.

"Mr. Crouch's elf?" Percy asked.

"Harry's wand?" Charlie asked.

Mr. Weasley explained with great difficulty, the (as John described it) 'clusterfuck of stupidity and fear'. Neither Mr. Weasley nor Hermione cared that John swore to describe it.

"Alright, so I get that it's You-Know-Who's mark... but why is everyone so terrified? It's still just a sign in the sky." said Ron.

"The Death eaters would send it into the sky whenever they killed." said Mr. Weasley, darkly.

"Death eaters?" Harry asked.

"What You-Know-Who's followers call themselves." said Bill.

"You have no idea of how much terror it inspired back when he was at full strength. For people to just get home with that mark over their houses... you would know what you'd find in your house. Your whole family slaughtered. But right now, we can't prove it was them." said. Mr. Weasley.

"I bet it was though! Dad, we ran into Draco Malfoy in the woods! He as good as told us that his dad was running around in a mask! And we know the Malfoy's were in league with him!" said Ron.

"But what were Voldemort's supporters-"Harry started, to see almost everyone flinching.

"Sorry... what were the death eaters doing, levitating muggles though? What was the point?" Harry asked.

"The point?" Mr. Weasley said with a hollow laugh.

"That's their idea of fun. Half of the muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were for fun. I imagine they had some drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding people in public that they're still at large. A nice little reunion for them." he finished, the outright disgust evident in his voice.

* * *

The arrival at the burrow was marked with Mrs. Weasley sprinting straight at them, starting by hugging Fred and George for all it was worth. She was constantly going on about how the last thing she would have said to them was that they didn't get enough OWLS and that she'd never forgive herself if Voldemort had got to them.

Sirius and Remus' letters were also marked by a great deal of worry, but Harry and John assured them that everyone was fine. The rest of the stay at the burrow, at least for Harry, Hermione, John, Ron and Delilah was actually quite calm, but the same could not be said for Mr. Weasley or Percy, who were in at the Ministry every day, weekends included, trying to cover for the absolute mess that was the aftermath of the world cup final.

They were introduced to the writing of a particular journalist, Rita Skeeter, who clearly wasn't a fan of telling the truth - she was obviously more interested in turning everything into a smear piece.

None of it was forgotten even on September the first, though it was in the back of their minds. At the forefront of their minds was the secret that Bill, Charlie, Percy, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were keeping. Sirius and Remus showed up too, and apparently they were in on it too.

"If only I could just go back a couple of decades... blimey I'm getting old!" said Sirius.

"Yeah, I'd have loved to go back to Hogwarts this year." said Bill, looking wistfully at the train.

"But what's going on?" Ron asked, sticking his head out of the window in their compartment.

"Professor Dumbledore will tell you!" said Mrs. Weasley, with a knowing smirk on her face.

"Tell us what!" Fred said, as the train began to move.

Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Remus, Bill and Charlie simply smiled and waved.

"Blimey, something big must be happening." said John, once the train had reached full speed.

"Wonder if it's got anything to do with these?" Ron said, tugging on his Dark blue dress robes.

"Must do. It's the only thing that's not normally in our school lists." said Delilah.

"Shh!" Hermione said suddenly. Her ears were pressed against their compartment door.

Once they had all fallen silent, they heard a familiar, drawling voice from outside their door.

"Father wanted to actually send me to Durmstrang you know? He knows their headmaster, and well... you know his opinion of Dumbledore, the old mudblood loving fool. Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. Mother didn't like the idea of me going to a school so far away. But father said that they have a much more sensible line of thinking regarding the Dark arts than Hogwarts. They actually learn them, not only the defence rubbish we have here." said the familiar, infuriating voice of Draco Malfoy.

"So he thinks Durmstrang would have been a better fit for him?" she said angrily.

"I wish he'd have gone, then none of us sane people would have to deal with him." said Delilah.

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school then?" Harry asked.

"Yes, it is, and it has a horrible reputation. They apparently have a lot of emphasis on the dark arts." said Hermione.

"I think I've heard of it. Where is it? What country?" asked Ron.

"Well... no one knows, do they?" Hermione said.

"Why wouldn't they?" Harry asked.

"There's always been a lot of rivalry between magical schools, and so they conceal their locations. Same as Beauxbatons." said Hermione.

"And how do you hide a bloody castle?" John asked.

"There are all sorts of ways to do it, like the muggle repelling charms at the world cup. Hogwarts appears as a dangerous ruin with keep out signs to muggles actually." said Hermione.

"Well Beauxbatons is obviously in France." said Harry.

"Most likely at least, based on the students we saw. But what about Durmstrang?" Delilah asked.

"Somewhere far North, most likely. Some glaciated country, because they have fur capes in their uniforms." said Hermione.

"Shame Malfoy didn't go. Imagine... we could just push him off a glacier and make it look like an accident. Shame his mother actually likes him." said Ron.

As the train travelled further an further North, they saw heavier and heavier rain. Some of their other school friends came to their compartment, like Seamus, Dean and Neville.

Neville and Dean didn't go to the world cup, and Ron took it upon himself to describe what they missed.

"And we saw Krum up close - we were in the top box." said Ron.

"For the first and last time in your life Weasley." came the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy, who was as usual, flanked by Crabbe an Goyle.

"Don't remember inviting you here Malfoy." said Harry.

"Oh Weasley... Madam Malkin's? I mean sure, they do Hogwarts robes, but... you went there for the dress robes? Seriously?" Malfoy asked.

"And where does the mighty Draco Malfoy go to get his dress robes?" Delilah asked dryly.

"Gladrags of course! I mean... I have standards." said Malfoy.

"Oh, because branding on dress robes matters so much, doesn't it?" Dean replied.

"It's what the branding represents Thomas." said Malfoy haughtily.

"Spoiled brats?" John asked.

"Superiority." Malfoy replied.

"So... spoiled brats." said Harry.

"Wouldn't expect you lot to understand anyway" said Malfoy, shrugging and stalking off with Crabbe and Goyle.

"What's wrong with that arse?" Ron grumbled, slamming the door shut.

"Who knows? Just forget it." said Seamus, who re-launched the discussion about the world cup.

* * *

The return to Hogwarts itself showed that Scotland hadn't forgotten its roots with regards to weather. The downpour could only be described as torrential.

"Wow... wouldn't want to cross the lake in this weather." said Delilah.

"Yeah, I'm bloody soak- AARGH!" said Ron, who had just been pelted with what appeared to be a water balloon from above. Looking up, the culprit was none other than Peeves. McGonagall was predictably outraged.

"PEEVES! I shall be informing the headmaster and the Baron if you do not remove yourself from the premises!" she seethed.

"Oh come on Prof! They're soaked already with the rain!" Peeves cackled.

McGonagall gave Peeves a pointed glare, under which he buckled.

"Alright, alright. No fun for Peeves tonight." he said in something of a singsong voice.

"Bloody git." Ron grumbled as they walked towards the great hall, which as usual, looked incredible with its many enchantments and floating candles.

"I'm starving, hope the sorting starts quickly." said John.

A loud grumble from Ron's stomach told everyone that he agreed wholeheartedly.

Harry though, was excited to see the sorting itself - through some unlucky circumstances (though John had the same luck) he hadn't attended one since his own.

"Hiya Harry!" came an excited and familiar voice - that of Colin Creevey, a Gryffindor boy in the year below Harry to whom Harry was an idol and a hero.

"Hey Colin." said Harry.

"It's my brother Dennis' first year this year! I hope he's in Gryffindor, keep your fingers crossed, yeah?" he asked excitedly.

"Er-sure." said Harry as Colin headed off.

"Don't brothers and sisters normally go to the same house?" Harry asked, thinking of the fact that all seven Weasley children had been sorted into Gryffindor.

"Not necessarily, I mean you could look at Parvati Patil, who has an identical twin sister in Ravenclaw." said Hermione.

"Well no offence to Colin, but if his brother is anything like him with regards to Harry, I'd prefer him to be in Ravenclaw." said John.

Harry then took a look at the staff table and saw some irregularities. Professor McGonagall was likely drying off the entrance hall floor, from where Peeves hit Ron with a water balloon, and Hagrid was with the first years on the lake. It felt like someone else was missing, but Harry couldn't figure out who it was until Delilah noticed it herself.

"Where's the new Defense teacher?" she asked.

There wasn't a single new face amongst the staff, and one more empty seat than usual. No teacher had lasted more than a year in that particular post, for varying reasons, and Harry's favourite, Remus Lupin (who was John's godfather) had resigned last year.

"Maybe they couldn't get one!" Hermione said with trepidation.

Eventually, the first years arrived (all covered in rainwater due to obvious reasons) and they all looked terrified. Harry warmly and nostalgically recalled how he himself felt walking into the castle for the first time.

The first sorting was a young boy with neat brown hair named Stewart Ackerley, being sorted into Ravenclaw. The fact that he went to sit near Cho Chang gave Harry a fleeting urge to join the Ravenclaw table himself.

Overall, Harry didn't find himself disappointed with the sorting - he was genuinely excited about and happy for every new Gryffindor that joined them. He found himself wondering on two occasions whether some of the new Slytherins knew how many dark wizards that their new house had produced in the past.

When the sorting had ended however, Harry, and other students found themselves wondering where the new Defense against the dark arts teacher was - they hadn't shown up yet.

Those thoughts were long forgotten when Dumbledore made one particular announcement.

"It is my painful duty to inform you that the Quidditch championship will not be taking place this year." he said solemnly.

The response was, predictably, almost universal student outrage. However, a single raised hand from the venerable headmaster was enough to silence them all. Harry himself still was extremely angry though.

"Fear not, for this was not done without reason. You see, this year, Hogwarts has been chosen to host the resurrection of a legendary event! None other than the triwizard tournament!" said Dumbledore.

A sudden rush of excited murmurs filled the great hall, whilst George simply couldn't contain himself.

"You're JOKING!" he yelled.

"No Mr. Weasley, I am not joking." said Dumbledore, smiling with the classic twinkle in his eye.

"What's he on about?" John asked.

"He's probably about to explain." said Delilah, who was correct.

"For those of you who already know what the triwizard tournament is, then I will allow your attention to wander for a moment. The tournament is a competition between three schools, the largest wizarding schools in Europe, each of which will have a champion chosen by an impartial judge. Each champion must then undergo three tasks. Three. Extremely. Dangerous tasks. Eternal glory awaits the victor, but if chosen, you stand alone. There is no turning back as a Triwizard Champion." Dumbledore explained.

The looks of excitement on the faces of the student body seemed unparalleled.

"The tournament's supposed to have been cancelled like two hundred years ago though." Ron said, confused.

"The tournament was in fact cancelled over two hundred years ago due to the death toll being too high, but the ministry, particularly the department of magical games has taken very strong measures to ensure that it will no longer be an issue." said Dumbledore.

"Death toll?" Hermione asked, aghast.

No one else seemed to care though - the excitement was almost tangible.

"Who's the judge then?" John wondered.

"Can't be a member of staff here. It'll likely be a worker for the department of magical games." said Delilah.

"Sounds about right." said Harry, who had fleeting images of an adoring Cho Chang watching as Harry was proclaimed as the Hogwarts Champion.

"The most important of these measures I feel, I should share with you now. No student under the age of seventeen will be allowed to compete. If you are underaged, do not attempt to enter, the judge will not be forgiving." Dumbledore warned, eliciting absolute outrage.

"THAT'S RUBBISH!" yelled some of the Slytherins.

"We're seventeen in April, can't we have a go?" asked George loudly.

Eventually, the students calmed down, and as usual, the plates filled themselves with food, but this time, it didn't quite take everyone's mind off everything else.

"You know, we're lucky there was a feast at all this year." said Nearly Headless Nick.

"Why's that?" Harry asked.

"Peeves. As with every year, he was upset that he couldn't attend the feast, but this year he caused absolute chaos in the kitchens, and scared the house elves half to death." said Nick. Hermione dropped her goblet, spilling pumpkin juice on Ron's robes.

"Oh come on!" Ron grumbled. Hermione wasn't paying attention clearly.

" _Scourgify._ We haven't learned nothing." said George with a wink.

"There are elves here in Hogwarts?" Hermione asked in shock.

"Certainly! The largest of any dwelling in Britain in fact, over a hundred!" said Nick.

"But we've never seen them!" said Delilah.

"That's the mark of a good house elf, you see. You see the work they do but you don't necessarily see them in the flesh." said Nick.

"But... they get paid, don't they? Sick leave? Holidays?" Hermione asked frantically.

To her horror, Nick merely laughed and went on to talk to Gryffindor's newcomers. Hermione began staring at her plate as if it had murdered someone.

"Err... Hermione?" Ron tried.

"Slave labour." said Hermione, simply. "That's what put this food on the table. Slave labour."

Ron shrugged and treated it as another instance of Hermione taking things too seriously. However, a pointed look from Delilah told him that Hermione wasn't going to let this go, and she was going to refuse to eat another bite until someone did something.

Ron sighed.

"Hermione, look at me." he said.

Hermione looked at him, the shock still prevalent on her face.

"Starving yourself isn't going to help those elves. Besides, they're at Hogwarts, they're probably having the time of their lives. I mean... it's Dumbledore. He'd treat them well, wouldn't he?" Ron reasoned.

"B-but they don't even get paid! No sick leave! No holidays!" said Hermione.

"Yeah, but house elves don't think like us, do they? Look, just... at least eat dinner. If you stop eating, the rest of the school isn't going to follow you. The house elves will still be working, they just have one person who doesn't accept it in a school of like... a thousand." said Ron.

"You know what? We should ask Fred and George how they get into the kitchens. Talk to the elves. Maybe it's better to actually get their opinion on everything?" John asked.

"You're right. But I'm planning on finding out exactly what those elves think of their situation as soon as I can." said Hermione, her voice oozing with determination.

Later that evening, John was the last of his group to finish eating. As he finished off a slice of treacle tart, Katie, who was sitting with some of her friends began to walk over to him. John smiled when he noticed her.

"John, I need to talk to you." she said.

"What's up?" John asked. Katie paused.

"There's really no easy way for me to say this. Over the summer... actually at the world cup, I met someone. He... I... I really like him." said Katie. John frowned at her.

"I promise I didn't do anything with him!" she said quickly.

"But you're about to break up with me because of him, right?" John asked, his voice betraying no emotions.

Katie nodded and John sighed.

"So what's this guy like?" John asked, feeling a lot more calm than Katie had anticipated.

"Wait... that's it? You're not angry or upset?" she asked.

"No. I can't control what you feel, and there's no point in me being upset, because it's not going to solve anything. Well... I am upset, but I'll be fine. Honestly." said John, smiling at her.

"You're sure?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, definitely. Plus I'd rather things not being ridiculously awkward with us. You didn't set out to hurt me or anything. This isn't really anyone's fault." said John.

"Ugh you're making me regret breaking up with you." said Katie, though the smile on her face told John that she was just engaging in some banter.

"I've been told I have something of a profound effect on girls. This Quidditch player I dated made it really apparent." said John, causing Katie to laugh a little.

"I only had one boyfriend before you, so my experience is a bit... limited, but you make breakups really easy." said Katie.

John shrugged.

"So... see you round?" Katie asked.

"See you round." John repeated.


	4. The Delegations

John joined the other boys in the dorm room soon afterwards, and immediately chose to share news of his breakup.

"So... Katie just dumped me." he said, simply.

"Wait... what? Why?" Seamus asked.

"Some other guy she met over summer. She didn't do anything with him but it definitely sounds like she wants to." said John.

"You don't seem that upset..." said Harry.

"I am, but being all mopey about it isn't solving anything, is it? I'd rather just get on with it. Plus, I'm a free agent again, so there's that." said John, smirking.

"Does anything actually get to you?" Neville asked, in awe.

"A few things I guess. But they're so few and far between that it barely matters." said John, giving Harry and Ron a quick, meaningful look. He was clearly referring to their 'adventures'.

"Still though, first girlfriend, first breakup and you're acting like you just dropped your wand or something." said Dean.

"Plenty of other girls around, and barely enough John to go round." John said, smirking.

"Alright, before things get to disturbing territory, let's just go to bed." said Ron.

"Wait, before we do, when do the people from the other schools turn up?" John asked.

"Noticeboard says in October." said Harry.

"And how many people from each school will it be?" John asked.

"A couple of dozen, fourth years and above. I don't know why they're bringing fourth years if seventeen is the minimum age." said Dean.

"There's obviously something else going on this year then. Whatever it is, we can obviously get involved." said John.

"Let's just wait and see." said Harry.

Harry's dreams were filled with the same images that greeted him with Dumbledore's announcement of the tournament - himself hoisting a majestic cup with Cho Chang cheering him on harder than anyone else, in spite of his age barrier.

* * *

Hermione and Delilah seemed to take John's breakup with Katie significantly harder than John himself, with Delilah threatening to hex Katie, though John calmed her down.

"You're just upset that I'm single and most likely going to just fool around again, aren't you?" John asked.

"Partially." said Delilah sheepishly.

John also couldn't help but smile very subtly with how indignant Hermione was over John's breakup.

The morning was spent at first with some rather disgusting plants - buboters, and they were squeezing them to collect their thick, yellow and rancid smelling pus.

"A very good cure for more stubborn forms of acne when properly processed." said Professor Sprout knowledgably.

"Well at least these things have a purpose. Though it's... weirdly satisfying to pop these things. Sort of like bubble wrap." said John.

"Speak for yourself." said Hermione, wrinkling her nose.

After a long, sweaty and smelly hour of collecting pus, Hagrid's care of magical creatures lesson was no easier to stomach. Lavender Brown's reaction upon seeing the creature for the lesson was "Eurgh!", which just about summed up what Hagrid dubbed the Blast-ended skrewt.

They looked like lobsters without shells, they appeared extremely deformed, had legs sticking out at odd places and no discernible head. To top it all off, they smelled like rotting fish.

The only thing that kept Harry and company working at the lesson was fondness for Hagrid. The skrewts were... something else to say the least.

"Hagrid, these aren't in any of the textbooks, where did you find them?" Hermione asked.

"I bred 'em. Manticores and fire crabs." said Hagrid proudly, before heading to his hut to get more food for the skrewts.

Hermione gaped at Hagrid's retreating form.

"How the hell did he do that?" John asked.

"I... don't know. I don't even know how he managed to approach a manticore, let alone get it to... you know... with a fire crab." said Hermione.

"Fuck the fire crab? Yeah, me neither." said John, bluntly. Ron started laughing, but attempted to cover it up with coughs.

"You don't have to be so blunt." said Hermione.

"What? It's true!" said John, innocently.

"It certainly doesn't make it easier to erase the image." Hermione mumbled, much to Ron and Harry's amusement.

* * *

The divination lesson wasn't much better - Trelawney had yet again gone to mournful assumptions and predictions regarding Harry, and the whole point of the lesson was about what the position of the planets could tell one about their futures. Ron made a hilarious comment about Uranus and Lavender, but unfortunately, it resulted in quite a lot of homework. That was made much worse by the fact that Hermione, John and Delilah received none at all from Professor Vector.

Ron's mood was put down particularly far when Malfoy ran up to him in the great hall, brandishing a newspaper.

"Weasley! Your dad's in the news!" he yelled excitedly.

It turned out that Mr. Weasley was in the news for helping out the new Professor, Mad-eye Moody when his dustbins attacked passing muggles.

"Your father's pictured with your mother here in front of your... is that _your_ house? I wouldn't keep a house elf in that! And your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?" Malfoy taunted. A small crowd was beginning to gather.

It took Harry, Delilah and Hermione's combined strength to prevent Ron from launching himself at Malfoy.

"Your mother could do with losing her son, couldn't she?" John retorted lazily.

"It'd certainly do everyone a favour." Harry snarled.

"You stayed at theirs over the summer, didn't you? Tell me, is she that chubby in real life or is it just the camera?" Malfoy asked.

"What's that look your mum has? Like someone's holding a turd under her nose? Or does she only get that when you're around?" Harry asked.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother." Malfoy said furiously.

"Then don't talk about anyone else's. Common courtesy. Didn't mummy teach you that? Or do you disgust her too much for her to bother? I couldn't blame her you know." said John, as they turned around to leave.

Harry suddenly felt something white hot fly past his face.

"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!"

Harry turned around to see Malfoy gone. Exactly where he was standing was a white ferret, with Professor Moody pointing his wand at it.

"I'll teach you to curse someone with their back turned! Stinking-cowardly-scummy thing to do!" said Moody, who shot something else out of his wand, which caused the ferret (which was actually Draco Malfoy) to bounce on the spot sporadically.

The people watching aside from Crabbe and Goyle began to laugh heartily.

Crabbe went to reach for Malfoy, but Moody stopped him.

"Leave it." he growled.

"Never. Do that. Again." said Moody with each bounce.

"Professor Moody!" came a shocked voice, belonging to Professor McGonagall.

"Hello there Professor McGonagall." said Moody calmly, as Malfoy bounced further and further into the air.

"What are you doing?" she asked frantically.

"Teaching." said Moody simply. John started snickering again.

"Is that-is that a student?" McGonagall asked.

"Yep." said Moody.

John roared with laughter, but he was the only one who dared to do so in McGonagall's presence. Harry guessed that, even though McGonagall would never admit it, John was her favourite student. His aptitude for transfiguration, similar demeanor to his father and his Quidditch skills seemingly made it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

McGonagall immediately pointed her wand at Malfoy and with a loud bang, the ferret vanished, and in its place was a breathless looking Malfoy with his blonde hair falling into his now very pink face.

"We never use transfiguration as a punishment. Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?" McGonagall said.

"Might've mentioned it." said Moody grumpily.

"We deduct house points or speak to the head of the offender's house." McGonagall said very sternly.

"I'll do that then. Your head of house'll be Snape then?" Moody said gruffly.

Malfoy was just grumbling incomprehensively, though the words 'my father' could be heard somewhere in his low-volume tirade.

"Your father eh? He and I are acquainted you know? I'll be sure to tell him I'm keeping a very close eye on his son. That aside, answer the question boy! Is Severus Snape your head of house?" Moody asked, looking more frightening even than usual. His normally constantly whizzing magical eye was fixed upon Malfoy.

"Yes." he said begrudgingly.

Without another word, Moody grabbed Malfoy's upper arm and dragged him towards the dungeons like a parent dragging a child away from their Halloween sweets.

As Harry left with his usual company, Ron was walking with his eyes closed.

"Don't talk to me." he said.

"What? Why?" Hermione asked.

"I need to imprint that in my memory. Draco Malfoy... the amazing bouncing ferret." he said in a dreamlike voice, as the others laughed heartily.

* * *

Harry and Ron were the only ones in their group doing divination this year, and so, as with last year, found themselves outright fabricating predictions from thin air for homework.

"Because of err... Mercury, I'll come off worse in a fight." said Ron.

Suddenly, Hermione burst through the common room door, dragging a rather disgruntled looking Delilah and John with her.

"I've finished!" she said excitedly.

"So have I!" said Ron triumphantly putting his quill down on the table.

Hermione glanced at Ron's work.

"You seem to have a hard month ahead." she said.

"At least I've been warned about it." said Ron sardonically.

"Isn't it a bit obvious you've made these up?" Delilah asked.

"Oi! I'll have you know that I strained my inner eye to the limit!" said Ron in mock outrage. John and Harry laughed loudly.

"What have you been working on then?" Harry asked. The look on John's face told Harry that asking her was a bad idea. Hermione was carrying a small box, which she then laid down on the table. Inside the box were fifty or so badges with the same four letters on them: S-P-E-W.

"What's spew?" Ron asked.

"It's not spew, it's S.P.E.W. The society for the promotion of elfish welfare." said Hermione.

"I've never heard of it." said Harry.

"Of course you haven't - I just formed it." said Hermione. Harry took a closer look at John and Delilah and realized that they were both wearing those badges.

"She wants us wearing badges with 'spew' on them." said John, dryly.

"S.P.E.W! I have the full explanation on our manifesto!" said Hermione hotly.

"Yeah, but people read it and don't notice the dots - they're on badges." said John.

"You should have at least told us what you were up to - maybe we wouldn't be wearing badges with this unfortunate acronym." said Delilah.

"And what would you have used?" Hermione said in a challenging manner.

"Maybe S.P.E.R? For the society for promoting elfish rights?" said Delilah.

"Well it's too late now, and that's not important anyway." said Hermione.

"How many people are joining you on this crusade?" Harry asked.

"Well if you two join, that'll make five with all of us. But the important thing is that I've been researching the situation thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries and I can't believe that no one's done a thing about it!" said Hermione, who then began to look at the parchment she was holding, which likely contained the all-important manifesto. She then explained her short and long term aims with her new quest.

"How are we meant to do that?" Harry asked.

"We start by recruiting members." said Hermione happily. "Ron, you can be the treasurer, I have a collection tin for you upstairs. I think two sickles to join should be good - it'll pay for the badge and fund the leaflet campaign." said Hermione.

"Leaflet campaign... bloody hell." John said under his breath.

"Delilah, you're the secretary, you should write down everything we're saying." said Hermione. Delilah begrudgingly did so.

"So what will the wonder twins be doing?" Delilah asked. John rolled his eyes.

"John, you should be in charge of recruiting - you're probably the most popular out of the lot of us. Harry, you should be our elf ambassador since you have more experience actually talking to elves." said Hermione.

Harry tried his best to not burst out laughing, but John looked aghast.

"People liking me doesn't mean I can convince them to- never mind." said John.

* * *

Later that day, John found Ron and took him along for exercise. (Dragged would have been a more accurate term though). He felt like he needed a partner, and decided that Ron was the best candidate.

The workout overall had Ron frustrated, irritable and exhausted.

"Come on Ron, we're past halfway on the push-ups now!" John urged. He was counting the press-ups with Ron, and doing them at the same pace as Ron on purpose.

"John, you could-you could just do the last twenty in less than twenty seconds, you don't have to keep my bloody snail's pace!" Ron gasped.

"You're going to quit if I don't pay attention, I'm not going to let you give up on day one!" John said.

Ron was furious that John was able to smile through his press-ups. They had already done eighty, and John had barely broken a sweat.

"How long have you been at this shit? Eighty-one!" said Ron.

"Eighty-two! More than a year. It's Sirius' exercises that really get me exhausted though." said John.

"Eighty-three! How long before this doesn't feel like I'm killing myself?" Ron groaned.

"Eighty-four! You'll get results in about a month. As long as you keep up." said John.

Once they had finished, Ron was horrified to find out that the push-ups were the warm-up.

"What? What are we doing for the main part?" he asked, aghast.

"I'm showing you the stuff you can do with these." said John, getting his dumbbells out of his bag.

"Ok... Hope I don't hurt myself with those things." said Ron nervously.

"You won't. So these dumbbells are normally fifteen kilos each, but Sirius showed me how to make them heavier and lighter with magic." said John.

"Cool, how do you do that?" Ron asked.

"For making them heavier, you use the incantation _gravitus_ and for making them lighter, you use _levioritus_." said John.

John and Ron spent the next half hour getting Ron up to speed on how to properly perform a bench press, shoulder press, tricep curl and bicep curl, and the remainder of the hour actually performing said exercises, changing the weight of the dumbbells depending on who was lifting them and what exercise was being done.

Ron certainly felt much better about the whole exercise commitment when using the dumbbells than when he and John were doing press-ups and sit-ups.

However, he was extremely sore when he and John met up with Harry, Hermione and Delilah to start their self-defense training.

However, the training was surprisingly light on the physical side - John (with some assistance from Harry and Delilah) spent most of the time talking about how one has no time to think in a fight, and that reactions were all that mattered. They stressed how the natural reactions were what needed to change during these sessions.

There were some practical aspects though, and even Ron, despite being a pure-blood wizard, felt like it was very useful. As for John, he found his stomach lurching noticeably whenever he had to physically touch Hermione to help her learn a tecnhique.

* * *

The next few weeks continued in a similar manner to the first day, and Ron found himself noticing that the exercises were genuinely getting easier, at least the press-ups and sit-ups. He also found himself coming along very well in self-defense sessions.

As for John, the more time he spent around Hermione, the more he would catch himself looking solely at her (and curse himself for doing so) He would catch more and more of her subtle mannerisms day by day when she was concentrating on learning - these were things he had never noticed before, and yet every single one of them, he found endearing.

He forced himself to get a grip every time he caught himself at it, and managed to keep it relatively well under control.

However, he didn't find himself dwelling on it all too much - the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were to arrive in the evening, also causing lessons to end half an hour early. The icing on the cake was that the lesson in question for him and his fellow Gryffindors was potions.

The students gathered in front of the castle to greet their guests, and were in awe of the vehicles the delegations used. Beauxbatons arrived in a gigantic carriage pulled by a dozen elephant sized horses. Horses that could fly.

Arguably more impressive though, was the Durmstrang ship. It burst forth from the black lake (how it got there was beyond Harry).

The last person to leave the Beauxbatons carriage was easily the largest woman Harry had ever seen. But she wasn't overweight for her height. On the contrary, she was slender and elegant looking. She just happened to be nearly twelve feet tall - roughly the same height as Hagrid, only significantly more lightly built.

However, the bigger shock came from the Durmstrang ship. The student at the front was Viktor Krum.

"I didn't realize he was a bloody student!" said a very shocked Ron.

The bigger shock came to John though. When the students (from all three schools) reached the great hall, Krum was seen kissing none other than Katie Bell. Most of the students present looked on in shock.

Hermione and Delilah though, immediately looked to John, with sympathetic looks on their faces.

"So... how much trouble would I be in if I decided to re-arrange Krum's face?" John asked.

"You'd probably face expulsion since this tournament is about making friends." said Hermione quietly.

"Such is life I suppose. Oh well." said John, who yet again seemed to recover remarkably quickly.

"How do you do that?" Ron asked.

John merely shrugged.

"John, are you really alright?" Hermione asked.

"Well... I can't help but shake the feeling that she wouldn't have dumped me for him if he wasn't a world-famous Quidditch player but whether she did or didn't is her choice. Give it a day and I'll be fine." said John.

"A day? Are you serious?" Delilah asked.

"Yeah. Why?" John asked.

"It took me at least a week before I could get the image of Antonio and that bimbo out of my head!" said Delilah.

"We clearly process breakups very differently." said John, simply.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't feel like talking to her for a few days." John added.

"I'm not jealous John, I'm just confused." said Delilah.

"If you say so." said John.

"Anyway, d'you reckon there's a way to get into the tournament from us? We've done dangerous stuff before, I think we'd do well." said Ron.

"Funny you should ask Ronniekins - we asked McGonagall and she literally just told us to shut up and get back to work. What I'm saying is that you probably shouldn't get involved, you'd just be wasting your time." said Fred, sat nearby.

"Well do we know who'll be judging then?" Harry asked.

"The three heads of the schools will." said Hermione.

The nearby people looked at her - she obviously knew something.

"In 1792, they were injured when a cockatrice went on a rampage - it's in Hogwarts: A History. Though they should rename it as Hogwarts: A revised History perhaps. Or maybe A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts Which Glosses Over The Nastier Aspects of the School." said Hermione.

"Sounds like you've got some suppressed rage there Hermione. What exactly are you on about?" Fred asked.

"The House Elves! Over a thousand pages and not one mention of the hundred plus slaves slaving away just so that the school runs!" Hermione seethed.

The heads that previously turned towards Hermione turned away awkwardly. She'd been fervently recruiting with limited success. John occasionally provided a token statement or two, but only to shut Hermione up, and because he was the recruiter. Some people seemed interested and bought badges but didn't seem to want to actively campaign. Neville, among others, bought a badge to get Hermione to stop glaring at him. Most however, just looked at it as a joke.

George leaned in towards Hermione.

"Have you ever been down to the kitchens?" he asked.

"No, of course not - students aren't supposed to be there." she said curtly.

"If you really care about this house elf thing, you should go down to see them. Tickle the pear on the painting under the great hall. You'll see what the elves have to say for themselves." said George.

"I'll keep that in mind, but only with the context of knowing that they've been conditioned and indoctrinated into a long existence of slavery and-" Hermione started, before Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly, ready to start some announcements.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry spotted two extra seats at the staff table on top of those for Madame Maxime and Karkaroff.

"Good evening all, and I big a very warm welcome to our guests! I take great pleasure in seeing you at Hogwarts! I trust your stay will be enjoyable and comfortable!" said Dumbledore, beaming.

A Beauxbatons girl sitting nearby, still wearing a hood and scarf scoffed.

Hermione opened her mouth, but Ron nudged her.

"I thought this was about making friends." he said, grinning cheekily at her.

Hermione huffed but kept quiet.

"The tournament will officially begin after the feast. Until then, please, eat and drink to your hearts' content!" said Dumbledore.

It seemed like the house elves had gone all out that day - there was a greater variety of dishes than anyone there had ever seen - some of them clearly foreign in origin.

"What's that?" Ron asked, referring to some kind of shellfish stew by a steak and kidney pudding.

"Bouillabaisse. I had it last summer on holiday in France, it's very nice." said Hermione.

"I'll take your word for it." said Ron, reaching for some Black pudding.

"The house elves really made snails?" John asked, poking at a few nearby snails cooked with garlic butter.

"Ten sickles if you eat that." said Seamus, looking at the snail as if it were alive.

John shrugged, grabbed a toothpick and popped a snail into his mouth without hesitation as Seamus looked on in shock.

John's eyes widened.

"This is delicious!" he said, and proceeded to grab six more snails.

Dean grinned at Seamus as he himself grabbed a couple of snails.

"Ten sickles down mate." he said.

"Shut up." said Seamus.

"Excuse me? Are you finished with the Bouillabaisse?" came a voice.

Harry turned around and saw that it was the girl who had her hood and scarf on whilst scoffing at Dumbledore's words. She'd taken them off and Harry saw that she had silvery blonde hair that fell to her back, exceedingly bright blue eyes, and teeth almost unnaturally white. Harry couldn't help but feel that she looked vaguely familiar. Whatever the case, she was extremely beautiful.

"Yeah, you can have it." said John, passing her the dish.

"Merci." she said before grabbing the dish and taking it to the Ravenclaw table where some of her school friends were sat.

Ron, who was gawking at her the whole time turned to Harry.

"She's a veela!" he said.

"Don't be ridiculous! I don't see anyone else staring at her like that!" said Hermione.

That wasn't true - a fair few boys turned their heads towards the girl as she passed by them.

"Hermione? Open your eyes." said Delilah.

Hermione noticed that most of the nearby boys were as guilty as Ron.

"I'm telling you, they don't make them like that at Hogwarts!" said Ron.

"They make them alright at Hogwarts." said Harry, absent-mindedly. Cho Chang was sitting close to the 'veela'.

John snorted into his glass of juice.

"You two are pathetic." he said unapologetically.

"I'll have to agree with John here. What has the world come to when John has to be the reasonable one?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, give them a break." said Delilah. The grin on her face told Harry that she too found it amusing.

"Excuse me for wishing my only male friends would think using their heads." said Hermione.

"Well technically..." said John, somehow keeping a straight face.

"Oh for goodness sake..." said Hermione..

"When you're done with your banter, look who's just shown up at the staff table." said Delilah.

The previously empty seats had been filled by Mr. Crouch and Ludo Bagman.

"What're they doing here?" Harry asked.

"They organized the tournament - it stands to reason that they'd want to see it started." said Hermione.

Eventually, when the last of the students had finished eating, Dumbledore stood up again and began the opening tournament announcements.

"As some of you may have noticed, we are now joined by Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch, respectively the heads of magical games and of international magical cooperation." said Dumbledore. There was some enthusiastic applause, though Harry's gut told him that it was more for Bagman than Crouch due to his reputation as a beater and his generally more likable appearance.

"They will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on the panel of judges. Now, Mr. Filch? The casket if you please." said Dumbledore.

Filch appeared from the corner with an old wooden chest, encrusted with jewels. The chest looked somewhat ceremonial and potentially anglo-saxon in origin. Murmurs of excitement began rising throughout the great hall, and everyone seemed to be peering at Filch, trying to work out what was in the box he carried.

"Mr. Bagman and Crouch have been collaborating and the instructions for the school champions have been finalized, as have the arrangements for the tasks themselves to take place. There will be three tasks spread throughout the school year for each champion to complete and compete in. The champions will be tested to their absolute limits... their magical prowess, their courage, their critical thinking skills and of course, their ability to cope with danger." said Dumbledore as Filch slowly and very deliberately laid the chest at the table in front of Dumbledore.

With the mention of the word 'danger', the hall became as silent as a crypt. It was as if no one wanted to risk breathing and missing a single of Dumbledore's words.

"Three champions, as you know, will be competing. One from each school. They will be marked based on the quality of their performances throughout the tournament. The champion with the highest total after the final task will win the triwizard cup. The champions will be chosen by the goblet of fire, our impartial selector." said Dumbledore.

Dumbledore tapped the ornate and ancient box with his wand three times, and the lid slowly creaked open. Inside was a simple looking, roughly hewn wooden cup. Were it not for the dancing blue flames inside the cup, it wouldn't have elicited a second glance.

"Prospective champions need only write their name and school clearly on a strip of parchment and place it into the goblet to enter. As I said earlier, do not try to enter if you are not yet seventeen years old. I will be drawing an age-line around the goblet." said Dumbledore.

"An age-line? That's it! Fred, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked George.

Fred merely grinned back.


	5. Champions

**Again going for a more film-esque variant on the pivotal scenes in this chapter. I just prefer the way the films presented certain aspects of the story.**

 **Bold and itallics text is a direct quote from the book - I'm not pretending to have written it.**

* * *

Fred and George's plan was simple. They brewed up an ageing potion, and attempted to drink it to get past the age line drawn by Dumbledore. Needless to say, as per Hermione's prediction, their plan was unsuccessful. In fact, it had led to an amusing side-effect whereby both of them had temporarily taken on the appearance of much, much older men. Lee Jordan found it particularly amusing.

The general laughter upon seeing Fred and George as old, bearded men was the exact opposite general sentiment when compared to Krum's attempt at becoming the champion. As soon as he walked into the room, everyone fell silent and observed him with varying degrees of awe (John less so than others).

"He's just another bloody student..." said John with obvious exasperation.

Krum gave John a curt nod and the ghost of a smile.

"Great, now he likes me", said John jokingly, once they'd left the room, heading back to Gryffindor tower.

"There are worse people who could have high opinions of you" said Hermione, barely paying attention.

"Voldemort having a high opinion of you would be pretty dire", Harry offered jokingly.

"I'm sure he thinks the world of me", said John dryly.

"How could he not? With your ego, he must see a kindred spirit", said Delilah, nudging John in the ribs.

* * *

Harry's head felt numb, whilst his heart hammered away faster than any other time when he wasn't in a life-threatening or changing situation. He heard his name being called out, having been chosen... somehow chosen by the goblet of fire. After hearing Dumbledore call his name, other noises barely registered... not that there was much noise to begin with.

With the other champions, there was applause and cheer. With Harry, John's loud and incredulous 'No!' barely registered. He was however, all too aware of the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at him. How was this possible? Had someone set him up? Confunded him? Nothing seemed to make sense as he slowly walked towards Dumbledore.

The other champions didn't seem to have any anger towards Harry, in fact they looked as confused as him.

"Champions. You will go to my office where we will discuss the rules. Mr. Crouch will be waiting for us", said an ashen Dumbledore. The champions, Harry included wasted no time whatsoever in doing so. The senior members of staff accompanied them, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Moody, Karkaroff and Maxime.

The walk was done in complete silence, and none of the older champions dared to look at or talk to Harry once throughout the entire five minute walk there. Harry always thought that five minutes wasn't very long, but five minutes of silence whilst with company was an eternity.

* * *

"Fuck this!" said John, who got up from his seat, headed in the direction of Dumbledore's office.

"John, you can't!" Hermione said immediately, almost like a reflex.

"Anyone who wants to stop me's going to have to hex me", said John firmly. Hermione backed off immediately.

Ron was caught in two minds momentarily, but followed John, completely ignoring Hermione and Delilah's simultaneous 'Not you too!'.

"He didn't do it" said John in an emotionless tone as they walked towards Dumbeldore's office.

"How do we know?" Ron asked.

"The look on his face. The fact that we've been with him almost all day every day. The age line. Harry wouldn't know a way past it if Hermione of all people didn't. Something's gone badly wrong here" John explained, sounding extremely rushed.

Ron then noticed how fast the two of them were walking, which explained John's tone.

Within three minutes, they'd caught up to the champions and staff members, just as they entered Dumbledore's office.

"Potter, Weasley, this is none of your concern" Snape said, upon noticing them.

"That's my brother. This is my concern. You can give us detentions if you want, but if you really want to stop us? Hex us" said John.

The look of relief on Harry's face certainly convinced Ron that Harry didn't present his name to the goblet if John's arguments hadn't.

"Harry didn't put his name in that goblet. No way he did", said Ron.

"We'd better hear it from him then, hadn't we Weasley?" Snape snarled.

Dumbledore turned to Harry, and Harry immediately felt like he was being x-rayed.

"Did you put your name in the goblet of fire?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry found it impossible to even think whilst under Dumbledore's scrutiny like this. Fortunately, he knew he was telling the truth when he replied.

"No sir", he said.

"Did you ask another student to put your name in for you?" asked Bagman.

"That wouldn't have worked Ludo. The goblet of fire is an exceptionally powerful magical object. Nothing short of a monumental confundus charm could have forced this to happen. Magic well beyond most adult wizards, let alone Harry here", said Dumbledore calmly.

"He's lying! He cheated the goblet! He shouldn't be allowed to compete!" Karkaroff roared. He looked beyond reason.

"Well I didn't try anyway. People were saying that this tournament has killed people, and I've had enough of trying not to die", Harry said dryly, trying to ignore Karkaroff who was quite an intimidating presence.

"Well whatever events led to this are now irrelevant. The Goblet of fire is a binding magical contract. As of this day, you are a Triwizard champion." said Mr. Crouch.

"Let me compete in his place!" Ron suddenly said, stepping forward.

Harry gawked at Ron. After everything they'd been through, Ron was still willing to face death for him?

"Let me do it! Maybe since I'm his brother the goblet will-" John tried, before being interrupted by Crouch.

"The goblet will know. Only you can compete as the fourth champion. If you don't compete, you will lose your magical powers", said Crouch.

Harry's spirits dropped, but were kept from bottoming out by Ron and John's uncaring and unapologetic displays of loyalty.

"John, Ron? You will report to Professor McGonagall's office immediately. She will decide what to do with the two of you", said Dumbledore, before he went on to explain what awaited the champions.

* * *

Harry, Ron and John returned to the Gryffindor common room without punishments, but feeling dreadful all the same. The fact that the completely full common room fell as silent as a graveyard upon Harry's arrival didn't help.

"Come on, just forget about it", said John, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder and leading him to the sofa at which Hermione and Delilah were sat.

"So what happened?" asked Hermione.

"Well we all know Harry didn't put his name in, hell most of the staff believed us too. But the goblet of fire will take Harry's magic away if he doesn't compete. He's stuck", said John.

"That's awful! How can such an obviously flawed system be allowed to-"Hermione started.

"Hermione, moaning about it won't fix anything. We have to find a way to figure out what the tasks are and then figure out how to get Harry through them", interrupted John.

"But the goblet is completely-"Hermione tried, before being interrupted again.

"That's your emotions talking, but fact's don't care about your feelings. The fact is that Harry's stuck here. We have to help him, that's it", said John.

Hermione huffed, but accepted that John was right.

"We should also try and figure out who put Harry's name into the goblet. I'd say Malfoy, but they have to be adults. There's an adult here that wants Harry dead or something", said Ron.

"You also need to write to Sirius. I'm sure he's had experience with at least some of the people at Hogwarts who could have done it", said Delilah.

"That's probably the best starting point. I'll get some parchment", said Ron, who bolted up the stairs and returned within two minutes, holding parchment, his quill and ink.

Harry took them and began to write the letter which he sent immediately afterwards

 _ **Dear Sirius,**_

 _ **You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes - I don't know if you've heard, but the Triwizard Tournament's happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don't who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn't. The other Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff.**_

 _ **Hope you're doing okay, and Buckbeak,**_

 _ **Harry**_

* * *

The school's attitude towards Harry did not improve over the next few days. Some of the Gryffindors seemed impressed, but others avoided him, thinking that Harry had tarnished their collective reputation. The Slytherins were generally as cold to him as ever, the Ravenclaws were indifferent, but the Hufflepuffs, normally on good terms with Gryffindors, were even colder than the Slytherins.

Harry also couldn't help but notice how much more that Cedric looked the part of a champion than Harry himself. Cedric was tall, handsome and popular, whereas Harry, in spite of growing slightly, still was comparitively scrawny, short and still had his scruffy hair. He even couldn't help but wonder how the school would have reacted if John was made champion. He rarely if ever thought of it, but his twin brother was five foot ten compared to his five foot seven, significantly more muscular and popular, didn't require glasses, and somehow pulled off the same head of messy black hair that he himself had.

John meanwhile, tried his best to not let any of the hatred for Harry change much about their day-to-day activities. He would continue to exercise with Ron, who was starting to feel more physically fit and stronger, alongside the self-defense sessions. Harry, John and Delilah still knew the most, but Ron was catching up fast. John wanted to spare Hermione's feelings and not tell her that she still wouldn't stand a chance in a one-on-one encounter, let alone against multiple attackers.

But what genuinely got to Harry was how badly lessons were going. Trelawney would predict Harry's death at an exponentially increasing rate of both certainty and frequency, he failed spectacularly at performing a summoning charm, so much so that he (and Neville) got extra homework.

Unsurprisingly though, potions was the worst. The Slytherins were constantly attempting to tamper with his potions, constantly taunting him or belittling him, and Snape constantly sweeping over the classroom, looming over their heads wasn't helping. Snape had left the classroom to fetch spare ingredients, leaving everyone to work on their antidotes.

Eventually, Harry noticed the Slytherins all wearing badges. He turned to Hermione, about to ask her how she possibly managed to convince them to wear S.P.E.W badges, but then realized what they read.

 _Support Cedric Diggory - the REAL Hogwarts Champion_

Malfoy caught Harry's eye and grinned evilly.

"Like them? They can do interesting tricks too!" said Malfoy, who tapped his badge with his finger. Harry saw the badge morph before his eyes, and it then read:

 _Potter Stinks!_

The Slytherins started laughing, all of them following suit and pressing their badges, causing them to change to the anti-Harry message.

"You lot follow Malfoy around like a cult. Do any of you even have a bloody original thought in your heads?" John asked, containing his temper remarkably well. Harry took one look at Ron and saw that he was inches away from drawing his wand.

"So much wit. Malfoy, how long did you have to think to come up with that profound message?" Hermione asked.

"Want one Granger? I have loads. But don't touch my hand now, I've just washed it, I can't get your slime on me", said Malfoy.

One more comment would have been enough to send Ron over the edge, but Harry had enough, and drew his wand.

"Go ahead Potter. Do it. Moody isn't here to protect you now", snarled Malfoy, also drawing his wand.

They glared at each other for a split second, before acting.

 **" _Funnunculus!" Harry yelled_**

 ** _"Densaugeo!" Malfoy roared._**

The jinxes bounced off each other in mid air, ricocheted off walls at odd angles, and Malfoy's ended up hitting Hermione, and Harry's hit Goyle. John rushed over to Hermione, whilst Delilah and Ron jumped in between Harry and Malfoy. Delilah tried to hold Harry back, but John glared at Malfoy in a manner which made him seem to physically shrink before them.

"What's all this noise about?" came the soft and dangerous voice of Snape, who returned.

"Potter attacked me!" Malfoy yelled immediately.

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"He hit Goyle, look!" said Malfoy. Goyle's nose had now become covered in ugly, grey boils.

"Malfoy's hit Hermione!" John spoke up. He dragged Hermione's hand away from her now tearful face, and everyone saw that her front teeth, normally large anyway, had started growing alarmingly quickly.

"I see no difference", said Snape.

Hermione burst into tears and ran into the hallway, John following. He was initially caught between yelling at Snape and following Hermione, but chose the latter.

"Hey! Hermione, wait!" John called pointlessly - she was leaning against a wall, crying.

"Even a teacher..." she sobbed.

"What?" John asked.

"I wouldn't expect _you_ to understand!" Hermione snapped.

John looked taken aback, and stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Well... you haven't told me what's going on so... no, I wouldn't" he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm sorry John, it's just..." she started.

"Go on. It's only me", said John encouragingly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Hermione's eyes filled further with tears, but she spoke. In spite of the tears, John was relieved to see that she'd stopped sobbing.

"Everyone used to make fun of me in primary school... People still do at Hogwarts, but at least I have friends here" she said, her voice shaking with the effort of not bursting out into tears and sobs again.

"But now even a teacher isn't above making fun of me, and for my appearance of all things... I must be quite the ugly duckling", she said.

"Because Severus Snape is so easy on the eyes, isn't he? Who could resist those... greasy black locks, the... gigantic hooked nose, the sullen expression and general douchebaggery!" John quipped.

Hermione laughed in spite of her tearful state.

"Snape aside, you're... well I don't exactly make a point of saying this often, but you're... don't make me say this again... you're beautiful", said John, lifting her chin up. Hermione could see that he was blushing ever so slightly. John never blushed, so even the slight tinge of pink on his cheeks was extremely obvious.

"Do you really think so?" she asked.

"I thought I told you not to make me say it again!" John joked.

Hermione smiled.

"I'm sure saying so once is more than enough", she said.

"Yeah, even saying the word beautiful makes me feel weird. Holy shit your teeth just grew again... hospital wing!" said John immediately.

* * *

The lesson was later interrupted by Colin Creevey, who told Harry that the daily prophet was there for the champions. This was partially true, but Harry also had to deal with an annoying and somewhat intimidating interview with a notorious Daily prophet journalist, Rita Skeeter, and Ollivander came to inspect the champions' wands, making sure that they were suitable.

Most importantly however, Sirius finally sent his reply, asking Harry to meet face to face in the Gryffindor common room on the twenty-second of November. The knowledge that Sirius would be there soon was all that got Harry through the time until the twenty second - the hostility of most of Hogwarts wasn't easy to handle. Some of the 'Potter Stinks' badges had been replaced with 'Potter REALLY Stinks'.

Care of Magical creatures had become one of the few classes where Harry could relax, but on one lesson in particular, Hagrid pulled Harry aside, looking very serious.

"Meet me outside the forest at six. The others can come too but yeh need the cloak. Just you. Summat I have ter show yeh" he whispered.

"What-" Harry started.

"Can' say now Harry, just be there tonight. It's important" said Hagrid.

Harry told the others about Hagrid's uncharacteristically secretive conversation, and they decided that they would come with him that night. Harry would be under the cloak for whatever reason, but obviously Hagrid knew that Harry specifically would be in trouble for being there, but not the others.

That evening at six o'clock sharp, they met up with Hagrid at the edge of the forest, by his hut.

"Hey Hagrid, what's this about? And yeah, Harry's here, he's already under the cloak", said Ron.

"It's abou' the tournament. The champions aren' meant ter know about the tasks, but I know fer a fact that Karkaroff's told Krum", said Hagrid.

"And it's worth risking breaking the rules to let Harry know?" Hermione asked.

"Definitely. Follow me", replied Hagrid.

Whilst in the forest, Hagrid had met up with Madame Maxime, who was obviously there to get information for Fleur Delacour, but her interactions with Hagrid made the youngsters think that helping Fleur wasn't all that was on her mind.

Eventually however, they reached a spot in the forest that was making a great deal of noise, and when they rounded a thicket of trees, a dozen or so very recognizable figures could be seen.

Eight of them were wizards, and one of them was Charlie Weasley. The other four were dragons in massive cages.

"Charlie! What the-"Ron said in shock.

"Evening Ron! One minute, stunning spells in three-two-one- Stupefy!" said Charlie, casting a stunning spell in tandem with his colleagues.

"Dragons... Dragons! The first task is..." Delilah gasped.

Harry's heart was in his mouth. He had to take on a dragon? How? Hagrid and Madame Maxime however, appeared to be having the time of their lives looking at the dragons.

Ron and John were looking at the cages individually.

"One for each champion", said Charlie to Ron.

"One for each... but that's a bloody Hungarian horntail!" Ron replied.

"Even if it didn't have a spined tail, it's nearly twice the size of the others! Just wait, Harry's going to have to face that one, isn't he?" John said cynically.

"That can't be fair!" said Hermione.

"I'd have to agree actually, that horntail is nasty. It's back end is as dangerous as the front. But I didn't make the task, my team was just asked to bring these lovely ladies here with some safety protocols", said Charlie.

"No doubt, someone's trying to get you killed", John muttered to the spot where Harry was stood under the cloak.

Harry gulped. This task was obviously designed asymmetrically, and if the person who entered him was indeed trying to kill him (the most likely explanation), then they'd be rubbing their hands with glee that Harry could be facing a dragon far larger and more dangerous than the others in the task.

"This'd be fair if they replaced the other three with a vipertooth, a ridgeback and an ironbelly", said Ron.

"Oh, actually, speaking of ridgebacks, how's Norbert?" Hagrid asked.

"Well we call her Norberta now. She's fine", said Charlie, laughing.

* * *

The twenty second eventually came, and Harry found himself waiting in the common room late at night, though he was much more silent than the others. He was still bombarded by thoughts of the school's current distaste for him and that he'd be taking on a dragon. The horntail, knowing his luck.

"Just wait Harry, you beat this first task and everyone'll be trying to brown-nose you", said John.

"Brown-nose?" Hermione asked.

"Arse licking. Figuratively, obviously", John explained.

Hermione wrinkled her nose but didn't disagree.

"For a second, I could've sworn James was back in the Gryffindor common room, with you speaking like that", came the voice of Sirius.

Harry looked at the fireplace and jumped. Sirius' smiling face was in the fireplace. He would've been scared out of his mind if he hadn't once seen Mr. Diggory do that in the Weasley household.

"Sirius, how're things going with work? And Lauren?" Delilah asked politely.

"Work's difficult, Lauren's brilliant, but Harry, we need to talk about the tournament, sorry Delilah", said Sirius.

Harry got to explaining everything that'd happened up until then.

"And now Hagrid's shown me some dragons. Where the hell do I even start?" Harry asked desperately.

Sirius looked at Harry, his eyes filled with concern.

"Dragons we can deal with in a minute. But there are more important things I need to warn you about", said Sirius.

"Things worse than dragons?" Hermione asked.

"I'm afraid so. Karkaroff. He was a death eater. You know what they are after that attack at the world cup", said Sirius.

"He... what?" Harry choked out.

"He was caught. Matter of fact, he was in a cell right next to mine, but he was released pretty quickly", said Sirius.

"Released? How? Why?" Ron asked.

"He made a deal with the ministry", Sirius said bitterly. "He gave up names of other death eaters to serve sentences to wipe out his own sentence. He's not very popular in Azkaban. Chances are, he's been teaching the dark arts to his students since he got out, so you've got to watch out for the Durmstrang champion, whether he's a Quidditch star or not", said Sirius.

"But are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the goblet then? If he did, then he's a damn good actor. He seemed furious about it, tried to stop me from competing." said Harry.

"We know he's a good actor - he convinced the ministry that he's 'seen the error of his ways'. But when you join in with Voldemort, you don't stop. Your life becomes about him and his goals, and that's it", said Sirius.

"So what, you think Karkaroff's trying to kill me?" Harry asked.

"I can't say for sure but I definitely wouldn't rule it out. I don't think Dumbledore hired Mad-eye Moody for no reason, that's definite", said Sirius.

"Was Moody the one who caught Karkaroff then?" asked Delilah.

"He was. But Karkaroff isn't the only one to watch out for. Barty Crouch has a heart of stone, he sent his own son to Azkaban. He definitely didn't enter you, but I'd be wary of anyone like that. What I'm really saying is-" Sirius started.

"Constant vigilance?" John quipped.

"Now really isn't the time for jokes John, but you're right", said Hermione.

"Now, about the dragon, do you have any ideas on how to start?" Sirius asked.

"No, I honestly have no idea", said Harry.

"Well dragon's scales and hides are really tough so using normal attacking spells isn't a good idea. Their weak spot is their eyes though, so if your aim's good, that's not a bad option", Sirius explained.

"What sort of spell should I use for that?" Harry asked.

"Definitely the conjunctivitus curse. Makes them temporarily blind" said Sirius.

"I've never even heard of it, how long would it take to learn?" Harry asked.

"A week maybe at your age, give or take a day or two", said Sirius.

"I don't want to risk learning a curse that I've never heard of, what other options are there?" asked Harry.

"Well what are you allowed to take with you to the task?" Sirius asked.

"Just my wand", said Harry.

Sirius thought for a moment before an idea suddenly hit him.

"Of course! Harry, if there's one way to avoid a dragon, what would it be?" asked Sirius.

"Be faster than the flames... but how am I supposed to do that?" asked Harry.

"You fly of course!" said Sirius, grinning.

"But I just said, I'm only allowed my wand", said Harry.

"Oh for goodness sake Harry, he's saying you use a summoning charm!" Hermione said, her exasperation rearing its head.

"I don't know how to do those either though", Harry replied, glumly.

"I'll teach you, it's not that hard!" said Hermione.

"We can all help with that, besides, you need to know it for charms anyway", said Ron.

"You have a firebolt too, if ever there was a broom that could outpace a dragon..." John said, leaving his statement open.

"You're making this sound easy John. It's a dragon", said Delilah, flatly.

"Pardon me for being hopeful and optimistic", John replied sarcastically.

Hopeful and optimistic certainly didn't describe Harry's thoughts the day before the task. He had successfully learnt the summoning charm - he was easily summoning dictionaries from across rooms or even from different rooms but there was no way of telling how easily he'd summon his firebolt from his dorm room all the way to the dragon's arena, or whether he'd manage it at all. If that didn't work...

John continued to tell Harry to eliminate that possibility from his mind, but he simply couldn't do it. His dreams for the last three days involved some variation of the summoning charm failing him and him having to dodge flames, swipes from six inch talons and a head the size of his torso.

But whatever the case, there was no going back. He had a plan in mind and a dragon to face in twenty four hours.


	6. Harry Potter, dragon tamer

**I do apologize that this chapter is the same in both versions, but nothing of note would change in either version (that I could think of)**

However nervous Harry was on the day before the task simply paled in comparison to the day of the task itself. Violent images of himself being skewered by eight inch talons or crushed between powerful jaws refused to leave his head, and those would only occur if he was lucky enough not to be burnt to a crisp. Delilah, John and Ron were sensitive enough not to recite dragon facts in front of him, but Hermione accidentally blurted out something regarding dragonfire whilst reading up on them for Harry.

"Three thousand degrees? That's enough to burn nerves at least", she said.

"So I'll die, but I won't feel it for long, thanks Hermione, makes me feel loads better", Harry grunted.

Hermione looked at Harry apologetically, but John interrupted.

"Come on Harry, breakfast. You're not about to face a dragon without energy", John said.

Breakfast was a blur to Harry. He vaguely remembered words of advice about dragon blind spots and didn't even remember what he had eaten by the time he'd arrived at the tent in which the champions and tournament officials would meet before the task.

Every minute crawled by, extending to what felt like an hour, and by the time Dumbledore and Bagman arrived, Harry wouldn't have been able to tell whether he'd been in the tent for five minutes or five days.

"Champions! Gather round! Now, you've waited and wondered, and the time has finally come! Mr. Bagman, if you will?" said Dumbledore, as the four champions walked up to the two older men.

"Ladies first then. Miss Delacour?" asked Bagman, holding out a bag to her.

Fleur looked at Madame Maxime, obviously confused, but Madame Maxime just nodded towards the bag. Fleur dug her hand into the bag, and Harry saw her looking very suddenly shocked as she pulled something out. It turned out to be a miniature dragon. It was green, smooth and seemingly alive, though definitely a model - they definitely wouldn't give the champions live dragons.

"The Welsh Green", said Bagman.

Harry understood - they were choosing the dragons which they would be facing.

Bagman turned to Krum next. Krum picked up his dragon much more confidently than Fleur did. His dragon was scarlet, had a very spiky face and very prominent eyes.

"The Chinese fireball", Bagman said.

Harry stomach lurched - the horntail hadn't been chosen, and when Cedric picked out the Swedish short snout, Harry knew that he was about to face one of the deadliest known dragon species. He at least knew that his plan would remain the same.

"These models represent four very real dragons. Each dragon will be guarding a golden egg, which contains a clue which without, you cannot hope to complete the second task. Mr. Diggory, on the sound of the cannon, you will be the first to enter the arena", explained Dumbledore.

Duly, the cannon fired five minutes later, allowing Cedric to collect his thoughts, but Harry, upon looking at Cedric, realized that just because the other champions were older, didn't mean that they weren't just as terrified as he was.

He was the last champion to face his dragon, and time after time, every roar he heard, every cheer, every muffled announcement worsened his trepidation.

Whilst Fleur was facing the Welsh green, the last dragon before the horntail, Harry, the only occupant of the tent, heard someone going 'psst!' nearby. Curious, he walked over to the source of the sound.

"Harry? You there?" came the familiar voice of John.

"John? What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Snuck out of the crowd, brought the cloak, you know... just in case. Listen, Ron had an idea, it's brilliant, and if it works, you're through in seconds. Try casting accio on the egg before anything else. Stay in cover, try to summon the egg, and only if that doesn't work, summon the broom, got it?" John explained.

Harry mentally slapped himself. Why didn't he think of that as soon as he heard he had to retrieve the egg?

"Blimey that's good! Thanks!" said Harry.

"Try not to die either. Wouldn't want to deprive Voldemort of the pleasure of killing you himself, would we?" John asked. Harry could hear the smile in his voice.

"You dick", replied Harry, fully appreciating John's attempt to lighten the situation.

"Good luck. By the way, if it helps, Cho's... I dunno, group I suppose is holding up a huge-arse sign saying 'Potter', and I'm guessing it's not referring to me", said John, who left without another word, leaving Harry with that simple confidence boost.

He felt himself blush slightly and was glad that John couldn't see him. Moments later, loud cheers and Dumbledore's amplified voice saying that Harry was now to face the dragon told Harry that it was time to put his (modified) plan into practice.

He slowly walked into the arena, and immediately saw from the cave-like entrance that it was filled with rocks, which provided plenty of cover to avoid streams of fire. The dragon wasn't in sight, but at the centre of the arena sat a nest. He could see the golden egg too. He made moves towards it, but out of nowhere, a massive, spined tail flew straight at his head.

His prime seeker reflexes allowed him to duck in time, and John and Sirius' training had him instinctively rolling to the side, towards a rock. He looked up and finally saw the adult female Hungarian Horntail. Enormous, brown and spiny, it was easily the most terrifying creature he'd ever seen (save of course, for the basilisk). It let out a deafening roar, as expected with a mother guarding her eggs. Harry peeked around the corner to get another look at the golden egg, but just as he saw it, a stream of flames blocked the view, and he ducked behind the rock again.

Concentrating as hard as he could on the egg he'd seen, he pulled out his wand.

"ACCIO EGG!" he yelled.

He waited, as the dragon sprayed his rock with fire. He continued to wait until he heard the fire stop. He peeked out from behind the rock again, and, expecting to see the egg firmly where it was earlier, he was surprised to see that it had rolled towards him. Apparently, the egg had been charmed to have some capacity of magical resistance. But he mad managed to move the egg closer, into an easier to reach position. Flying it is then.

"ACCIO Firebolt!" Harry yelled.

He knew that the broom would be far away and so waited patiently, but there was no time for patience - the dragon had leapt over the rock and stared him in the face for a split second. Harry dashed around the rock, making sure as much matter was in between himself and the beast. The dragon continued to chase him, and for a moment, Harry thought that it could have been funny to watch both of them running around a rock in circles. For one absurd second, he even envisioned the Benny Hill theme song, but he heard a swishing sound, and found that his broom was on the way.

He didn't have time for it to land in his hand, and simply dived onto it in mid-air, to uproarious, near universal applause from the crowd. Commentary was being done by Bagman, but it wasn't registering with Harry. He was spending the entire time swerving out of streams of fire and swings of the horntail's enormous tail. He even performed a Wronksi feint in front of the jaws in order to have the dragon fly in the wrong direction, but when he did so, the dragon stuck out its leg and the talons caught Harry on the shoulder, almost knocking him clean off his broom.

He felt a blinding, stinging pain in said shoulder, but tried his best to ignore it. The dragon was suddenly in pursuit of him again, but once again, the feint fooled it, and this time Harry performed the feint in the direction of the egg. His heart was in his mouth when the heavy egg was in his hands, and before he knew it, dragon tamers were on the arena, coaxing the dragon back into a cage.

Finally, Harry allowed the crowd's cheers to properly register, and it felt incredible. He finally understood why people entered the tournament - the feeling of an adoring crowd cheering specifically for you was even better than any quidditch match and it was addictive. He almost wanted to take on the second task then and there.

However, his shoulder was still stinging, and he was taken to the medical tent in which Madame Pomfrey was treating the champions. He saw Cedric, with a liberal amount of thick orange paste on one side of his face. He presumed it must have been scorched by his dragon, but he was grinning at Harry.

"Well done Harry, that was brilliant", he said.

"Yeah, thanks, I wish I could've seen your run too", Harry said genuinely.

"Not as stylish as yours I'm afraid", Cedric replied wryly, before heading off.

While Madame Pomfrey was treating Harry's shoulder, Harry saw the people he most wanted to see charging into the tent.

"Harry! That was insane! You were definitely the best!" John yelled immediately.

"Krum was good to be fair but blimey Harry! If you don't get the best score, then... I don't even know!" Ron added.

Harry couldn't help but allow an enormous grin to take over his face as Delilah and Hermione went over how risky his moves were. He didn't even care that Cho was nowhere in sight. He'd just outflown a dragon.

"Come on, they're going to show your scores!" said John, lifting Harry onto his shoulders.

"John? What the hell are you doing?" Harry asked.

"You just took on a dragon", said John simply, as if it explained everything.

"He's saying he was worried about you, and he's proud of you now, but he's too stubborn to say it", said Delilah, shaking her head but smiling all the same.

Harry grinned and ruffled John's hair as he carried Harry to the area in which most of their other friends were waiting. He was of course, greeted with loud cheers, and he found himself appreciating being lifted by John so that he could see the face of everyone who supported him.

* * *

The Gryffindor common room was the scene of a party the likes of which hadn't been seen in years, even when they won the Quidditch tournament the previous year. In fact, even Hermione avoided shoving house elf rights rhetoric down everyone's throats - Harry's victory was just too spectacular.

"Knew you wouldn't die Harry! Lose an arm?" yelled Fred.

"Or a leg! But pack it in altogether?" George continued.

"NEVER!" The twins roared in unison, prompting loud cheers.

"What about the egg?" Seamus hollered.

"Should I open it then?" Harry asked the crowd.

"YES!" Yelled the crowd.

"I can't hear you!" Harry yelled back. He was genuinely enjoying all the attention for the first time in his life.

"OPEN IT!" The crowd roared enthusiastically.

Harry looked at the egg, which had a small latch on the top. He twisted it, and the golden shell pieces clicked open, revealing a silvery, egg-like shape inside, but that wasn't what got people's attention. An unearthly, extremely high pitched shrieking sound filled the room, and it was so loud that everyone immediately covered their ears. Many of the present company swore loudly, before Harry slammed the egg shut again.

The crowd looked at Harry again.

"It's got to be a banshee, nothing screams like that!" called Parvati Patil.

"It might've been someone put under the cruciatus curse, maybe you have to deal with that?" Neville tried.

"Don't be a prat Neville, that's illegal, they can't do that to anyone, let alone champions. It did sound something like Percy singing though... maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower", said Fred, to a chorus of laughter.

"Well you've got time. Let's not open that when there's a hundred people to hear it", Ron advised.

Harry was inclined to agree, and in any case, he'd earned the right to not worry for a while.

"Jam tart Hermione?" George offered.

She looked at it with no small amount of suspicion.

"Don't worry about them. It's the custard creams you've got to watch out for", said George, who watched Neville momentarily turn into a bird, before transforming back.

"Where did you get all of this food?" she asked, taking one of the jam tarts.

"Kitchens of course, haven't you visited them yet?" asked George.

"No, I've been busy", said Hermione.

"Well if you really want to help the house elves, I reckon you should talk to them" George replied.

That comment left Hermione rather pensive for the remainder of the party, but it didn't stop her from responding to the others.

"Hermione... I don't know why I didn't say anything earlier, but you look different. I don't know what it is", said Ron.

"Actually, Ron's right. Have you done some glamour charms or something? I didn't think you'd be the type", said Delilah.

Hermione just gave them an extremely uncharacteristic and mischievous grin.

It was well past midnight by the time Harry went back to his dorm. He had been allowed to keep the model of his dragon, and he set it down at his table, where it yawned, curled up and apparently went to sleep. Maybe Hagrid was right? Were dragons really all that bad? It was of course, easy to say that whilst looking a miniature, and actually somewhat cute version of a forty foot long, flying, fire-breathing, hyper-aggressive monstrosity.

As November gave way to December, cold winds rose, as did the frequency of rain and the fact that the castle was made of stone didn't help. Still though, the castle was preferable to the ship or carriage, which simply couldn't have fires (for obvious reasons).

After yet another Divination lesson in which Trelawney predicted Harry's death, they returned to the common room, hoping to relax for the evening, but John spotted them, and hurriedly walked over to them.

"Guys, run... get out of here!" he whispered.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"It's Hermione... she-" John started, before being interrupted by Hermione herself.

"Harry! Ron! You've got to come! It's amazing!" she yelled excitably. Delilah was behind her, looking apologetic.

"Speak of the devil" John mumbled.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Just come on!" she replied, grabbing both Harry and Ron's hands and dragging them out of the common room. John and Delilah followed them.

They were underneath the great hall before Harry and Ron realized what was going on.

"Wait... you're dragging us into more spew shit aren't you?" Harry asked, sounding remarkably like John for a moment.

"It's not spew!" said Hermione.

"What are we now then, the House-elf liberation front? We're not going in there and asking them to stop working", Ron grumbled.

"I'm not asking you to! Just come and see them with me!" Hermione cried.

"Humour her, or we'll never see her stop", John chimed in tiredly.

Hermione glared at John, but didn't say anything further, and opened the door to the kitchen.

Harry saw what he expected to see - a large number of house elves. What he didn't expect was one particular elf.

"Harry Potter sir!" - it was Dobby, who squealed, sprinted at Harry and hugged him around the midriff.

"D=Dobby?" Harry asked in shock.

"It is sir, it is!" Dobby replied, backing off.

It was definitely Dobby, but he was wearing the strangest combination of clothes he'd ever seen - a tea cozy as a hat, with badges pinned onto it, a small, rather bizarre tie with horseshoes forming a pattern, no shirt, what looked like a pair of shorts for a two year old, and one red sock and one blue sock. Delilah elbowed John hard to stop him from laughing.

They also found Winky, though she was hardly in a condition to have a proper condition - she was clearly in a depression over her sacking by Crouch.

The house-elves continually bowed and curtsied to them as they talked to them, and they constantly offered them food, which Hermione refused, looking at how the would constantly bow or curtsy with a pained look on her face. However, everyone else took as much food as they could possibly carry.

"I've always been impressed by Fred and George nicking food from the kitchens" Ron mused, biting into a chocolate eclair.

"But it's not that hard at all - they're giving it away", he finished.

"Dobby working here is probably the best thing that could happen to those elves", said Hermione. "The other elves will see how happy he is being free and they'll probably want that too", she said.

"Unless they take their cue from Winky", Ron pointed out.

"She'll cheer up and realize that she's better off here, I'm sure", Hermione replied, though she didn't appear totally convinced of that.

Harry and John grinned at each other, knowing that this wasn't the end of Hermione's house-elf related quest.

* * *

"Potter! Weasley! Pay attention!" McGonagall's sharp voice cut through the classroom like a sword. Incidentally, the reason she raised her voice was because John and Ron were having a sword fight (with Fred and George's fake wands). Ron was holding a parrot, and John a headless haddock - the parrot's beak had sliced its head off.

As the head of the haddock slid to the floor, McGonagall sighed, knowing that both Ron and John had already worked out how to transform their guinea fowls into guinea pigs, but hadn't taken any notes.

"Now that you two have been kind enough to act your age", she started. Ron looked sheepishly at Hermione, who looked beyond exasperated, and John just shrugged.

"It's time for an announcement. The Yule ball has been a traditional part of the triwizard tournament since its inception, and this tournament is no exception", said McGonagall.

Lavender began to giggle rather loudly, and Parvati had to elbow her to get her to stop.

"It is open to fourth years and above, though you may bring a younger student if you wish. Dress robes must be worn, and it will take place at eight in the evening on Christmas day, lasting until midnight", McGonagall explained.

Almost every girl in the classroom was looking longingly at either Harry or John. Harry seemed oblivious, but John clearly wasn't, but surprisingly, he rolled his eyes and looked at McGonagall again.

"It is a chance for everyone to let their hair down and enjoy a night of well-mannered frivolity", McGonagall finished, before looking directly at both Harry and John.

"A word please, after the lesson? Both of you. Neither of you are in trouble", said McGonagall, adding the last part due to her addressing John.

After the lesson, Harry got news that he simply wasn't ready for.

"Harry, the champions and their partners-" she began.

"Partners? What partners?" Harry asked. John thought he'd be standing by awkwardly while McGonagall addressed Harry, but now he was having to restrain laughter.

"Dance partners. The champions open the night with a dance. It is the tradition", McGonagall explained.

"I don't dance!" Harry replied, feeling slightly panicked. He noticed John's enormous grin, and inwardly cursed him.

"Oh yes you do. You are a Hogwarts champion, and will do as you're told as a school representative. You'd better get yourself a partner, and soon", McGonagall replied, using the very same authoritative voice that she normally used when John was in trouble.

"But I don't-" Harry tried.

"You heard me Potter", she retorted with finality.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like a word with your brother", she added.

Harry walked off awkwardly, knowing full well that John absolutely loved every second of that conversation.

John turned to McGonagall, who had something completely different in mind to what he was expecting.

"Potter, before I begin, I'd like to let you know that this is the very first time I've considered teaching what I want to teach you", she said.

John raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Your transfiguration skills are comparable to that of your father. Having spoken to your godfather, I now know he was an animagus. I may disapprove of the illegitimacy of his ability, but your trajectory within the field of transfiguration is very similar to his if my memory serves me well. I wish to offer you the chance to learn to become an animagus", she said.

For the first time he could remember in years, John was genuinely surprised.

"Wha... me? But if you were going to teach anyone, surely Hermione would be a better option?" John asked.

McGonagall thought for a moment about her response.

"Am I to assume that you won't be offended by what I say?" she asked.

"Offence is taken, not given, I know you're not trying to hurt my feelings or anything", said John.

McGonagall gave him a very rare smile.

"Well, I trust you know that Miss Granger is a better _student_ than you. But she doesn't have your talent for transfiguration. That being said, if you think you can teach her, then be my guest, but _make sure you register yourself_ ", she said, putting a great deal of emphasis on registering as an animagus.

"So... if I did this, how long would it take me to learn?" asked John.

"I would say approximately a year. You would have to organize lessons with me in your own time. A year is assuming you can see me once a week", said McGonagall.

To John it was a no-brainer... on top of being one of the coolest magical abilities he'd ever heard of, the utility of being able to transform into an animal at will created endless possibilities in his mind.

"Definitely! When do we start?" asked John.

"Not today I'm afraid. But We can certainly start tomorrow at seven if you wish", said McGonagall.

"I'll be here! Thanks!" said John.

* * *

"You're serious? An animagus?" Delilah asked in shock. John caught up with Harry, Ron, Delilah and Hermione after his talk with McGonagall.

"Yeah! I'll let you guys know how they go, and if I can teach you, I will", said John.

"No offence John, but is there any reason she's only willing to teach you?" asked Hermione.

"Err... apparently I'm stupidly talented at Transfiguration. She doesn't want to just go around teaching everyone because its so dangerous, but she thinks my talent is enough", said John.

"That makes sense", said Hermione, though it was obvious she was slightly jealous.

"That aside, how about that ball? Harry literally _has_ to dance", said John, grinning widely.

"Don't remind me", Harry said darkly.

"I think the ball sounds like a great idea", said Delilah.

"Don't know what to think", said Ron.

Once they'd dispersed to their dorms, in spite of Harry and John's insistence, Ron said that he wasn't going to ask Hermione.

"I don't want to seem too obvious." he reasoned.

Harry stepped back on that, as he didn't really know how such things worked, but John rolled his eyes.

"Well at least ask someone", said John.

"I will, don't worry. Who're you planning on taking then Harry?" asked Ron.

Harry didn't say anything - he knew exactly who he wanted to take with him. Ron detected his thoughts on the matter.

"Well you took on a dragon, I reckon girls'll be queuing up to go with you", he assured him.

Harry looked down at his short, scrawny frame, and then looked at John's much more muscular one.

"Oh sure... I'll be beating them off with a stick, by the dozens", said Harry sarcastically.

Harry had never noticed it, but it seemed that Hogwarts housed a great deal more girls than he'd previously thought. Everywhere he went, there'd be girls giggling over certain boys (more often than not, John, himself or on occasion, Ron, who had with John's help, packed on no small amount of muscle), comparing what they'd wear to the ball or of course, discussing delusions of grandeur regarding Viktor Krum, whose relationship with Katie appeared to be as strong as ever.

"Why are they travelling in packs? How's anyone meant to get one alone to ask them?" Harry asked Ron one day after breakfast.

"Lasso one? Come on Harry, if you can't get a date, who can?" asked Ron.

Harry responded by simply nodding his head towards John, who had been cornered by one of the aforementioned 'packs'.

John walked over to them, looking mildly irritated once he'd finished whatever conversation he was having.

"Which one of them is it?" asked Harry, smirking at him.

"None. I'm not going to the ball with a girl who'll spend the entire night trying to become my girlfriend, especially when I don't even know them", said John.

"Fair enough actually", said Ron.

"Honestly at this point, I want another round with the fucking horntail..." Harry said, looking at the many packs of girls wandering the castle together.

"It really isn't that hard you know..." said John.

"Oh? And how are you supposed to do it then Cassanova?" Harry challenged.

"It's really not complicated. You go up to one of those packs, say 'excuse me, could I have a word with (whoever you want to ask out)' and ask her. That's it", said John.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Easier said than done"


	7. The Yule Ball

"Guys? I have a serious problem", said John to Harry and Ron the next evening.

"What? You've finally figured out that homework's supposed to be done on occasion?" Harry quipped.

"Don't be ridiculous! No, in all seriousness, I'm pretty sure I fancy Hermione", he said.

Harry gawked at John, and Ron raised an eyebrow.

"You're... you're serious?" said Harry.

"Yeah. Honestly, it's stupid as fuck, I catch myself staring at her at random times during the day, and I'm seriously considering asking her to the ball", said John truthfully.

Ron thought for a moment.

"I reckon you should", he said.

"What? Why?" asked John.

"Ron's right. It'll let you properly figure out if you fancy her, and you might work out what she's thinking herself", said Harry.

"You really think so?" asked John.

"Well... the working things out bit I'm not so sure, I mean you're still a damn Neanderthal" Harry teased.

John lightly punched Harry's shoulder teasingly, as Ron looked at the common room clock.

"Hadn't you better get to McGonagall? Animagus lessons?" asked Ron.

John looked behind him and saw the clock had reached six fifty five.

"You're right, I'll see you later then", said John.

Having walked to McGonagall's classroom, John didn't know what to expect with these lessons. All he knew was the very basic theory they'd learnt last year, that animagi had full control over when they wanted to transform, that wands were not required, and that each animagus had one form which tended to be distinguishable in some way - McGonagall's cat for example, had markings around its eyes resembling her own spectacles.

"Hi professor", said John upon opening the door.

"Good evening. Now I'm sure you remember that which was on your curriculum last academic year, am I right?" she asked.

"Animgai can control when they transform, they don't need wands, and they usually have some kind of feature that looks like their human forms", said John.

"Very good. Now regarding animagus transformation, the first and most important aspect in my view is finding out what sort of animal embodies your own characteristics. This is not as formulaic as anything else I have taught you, so you may find yourself frustrated in trying to discover this. What I can do is offer you this book. It lists all known and registered animagus forms and personality traits associated with them", said McGonagall.

The mention of personality traits associating with animal forms gave John a thought.

"Professor... I can cast a patronus, and I'm pretty sure it's a brown bear. Obviously it's silvery-white, but I recognized it based on size and the shape of its head", said John.

"Yes, Remus has told me about this. Partonuses can coincide with animagus forms, but this isn't a rule set in stone. Cast your patronus now, it is worthwhile to check whether you correctly identified your patronus, I imagine you cast it in a time of need", said McGonagall.

John nodded and pulled out his wand.

"Expecto patronum!" he said firmly, and as it did before when dementors were bearing down on him, a great, silvery bear burst forth from his wand.

McGonagall looked particularly impressed, but recovered and looked to John again.

"Impressive Potter, very impressive. You were right in terms of your patronus being a brown bear. This will certainly speed up the process. What I would advise you to do is to look up the brown bear in the book and look at the personality traits associated with it. Then cross-reference with other forms with some of those traits. Come back to me next week with a list and we will sort through them. If you find other traits which fit you in other forms, make sure to note them down and cross-reference those too", said McGonagall.

"Alright, I can do that", said John.

"Before you go, I must press the importance of introspection and honesty on you. If you are not fully honest with yourself, things may go horribly wrong. Nothing that can't be fixed at St. Mungo's, but I imagine you'd prefer to avoid such injuries. Many who attempt animagus transformations are not fully honest with themselves about who they are, and find forms that more represent who they wish to be", said McGonagall.

"It sounds like that'd be an easy trap to fall into", said John.

"It is. I almost fell into it myself. My advice to you would be to start with your personality traits that are neither positive, nor negative so that your self-pride doesn't interfere. This type of transfiguration is as much a test of character as it is a test of magical prowess", said McGonagall.

"Definitely sounds like it. Can I come to you after transfiguration lessons and talk about what I've done for say... five minutes? I really don't want to make mistakes here", said John.

"Certainly, but you must be quick about it", said McGonagall.

"Great, thanks Professor!", said John, picking up his book, and heading back to the common room.

He caught up with Hermione right outside the common room, and upon seeing her, he remembered his conversation with Ron and Harry, and so he took a deep breath and walked up to her.

"Hey Hermione", he greeted.

"Hi John, are you coming back from your animagus lesson then?" she asked.

"Yeah. _Balderdash_ ", said John to the fat lady, who opened the door.

"So? How did it go?" she asked.

"It already sounds nightmarishly tough. Still though, I think I can do it", said John.

"What do you need to do?" asked Hermione.

"Well firstly, I need to look in this book for traits associated with my patronus animal, and cross-reference the traits with every other form I can find. That'll take hours probably, and I'll probably find other traits too which fit me, so I'll have to cross-reference those too. McGonagall was also telling me to be totally honest with myself, or I could injure myself badly on my first transformation attempts later. Basically, I have to know who I am, not who I like to think I am", said John.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"I'm... honestly glad I'm not learning this now, I wouldn't want to risk mistakes on this", said Hermione.

"But if I manage it, I reckon I could teach you. And Harry, Ron and Delilah, plus I could help you out with the personality traits thing, because I can tell you when your ego starts coming into things", said John.

Hermione pondered that for a moment.

"Yes, I suppose that's true", she mused.

"Anyway, are you going to the ball with anyone?" John asked.

"I haven't been asked, so no", said Hermione. John found himself rather surprised at that. Know it all or not, surely he couldn't be the only person in the school who found her so attractive?

"Want to go with me?" asked John.

"I'd love to go with you. You'd certainly be easier to talk to than that Durmstrang boy who keeps following me to the library.", said Hermione, smiling.

"Who?" asked John.

"Oh I don't know, he looked to be one of Karkaroff's aides. I get the sneaking suspicion he fancies me", said Hermione.

"Well at least you're safe from him", John quipped.

"Free to just enjoy the ball", Hermione agreed.

"Yeah, I mean free food, drinks, and Fred and George are insisting that the weird sisters are showing up", said John.

"I imagine they're just messing around on that count", said Hermione.

"One can hope though. Obviously I've never heard them, but the way people go on about them makes me curious", said John.

"Oh, I know- Hi Harry, Delilah, Ron", said Hermione.

"Hey guys, John, how'd the lesson go?" asked Harry.

"It sounds damn near impossible but I reckon with enough grinding I could do it", said John.

"When have you ever ground out work?" asked Delilah.

"Pretty much never, but this is genuinely interesting. And useful", said John, simply.

"So how does it work?" asked Harry.

"I don't know most of it, I just know that I need to get to work at finding what form I should be transforming into", said John.

"How does that work?" asked Delilah.

John explained everything McGonagall told him in the same way he did for Hermione, eventually leaving the other three looking on with wide eyes.

"I think I could teach you guys, but only time will tell. Plus it's pretty dangerous", said John.

"Did you write to Sirius about this?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, he'll be delighted", said John, smirking.

* * *

Christmas was approaching at an alarming rate, and in spite of the fact that everyone in what Harry now simply knew as his group had partners for the ball. Hermione was going with John and Ron with Delilah. Harry hadn't managed to find one of his own. He asked Cho in a spectacularly embarrassing manner which was made worse by the fact that John was present at the time.

"Get a move on Harry, or all the good ones will be gone", said George, clapping him on the back mockingly.

"Good ones?" Harry asked stupidly.

George rolled his eyes, and Fred put his hand on Harry's shoulder, and gestured to the rest of the great hall in general.

"Look around. You can see girls of varying levels of attractiveness of course. How many of the better looking ones do you think don't have partners by now?" he asked.

"I'm not an idiot", Harry snapped.

"Awfully crabby today, aren't we?" George said, with mock-offence.

"Let's leave him be, I'm sure the dragon-slayer will be fine", Fred laughed.

He wasn't completely fine though, and one evening, whilst John was talking to Ron, Hermione and Delilah about his findings regarding personality traits and animagus forms, Harry noticed a giggling Parvati and Lavender walking through the portrait hole. Both of them were awfully giggly, but neither were at all unattractive...

 _Desperate times, desperate measures, right?_ Harry asked himself.

"Hey! Parvati?" Harry said suddenly. He felt his heart rate increasing almost in the same manner he did whenever Cho was in the same room, though it wasn't quite that drastic.

"Hi Harry", she replied.

"I was wondering, would you want to go to the ball with me?" Harry asked.

"Oh! Of course I will", said Parvati, causing Lavender to descend into a fit of giggles.

"Really? Great! Err... See you then?" Harry replied awkwardly.

"Yeah, see you then", said Parvati, smiling at him.

Harry walked back to the others, feeling like a great weight had been lifted off his chest.

"See? Not that hard at all!" said John brightly.

"Right", Harry grunted.

"Harry, girls are just people, or had you not noticed?" asked Hermione, smiling broadly.

"It's your teeth!" John said, all of a sudden.

"Pardon?" Hermione asked.

"Your teeth! That's why you look different!" said John.

"You caught me", said Hermione, shrugging but smiling all the same.

"Why're they different?" asked Harry.

"When Malfoy hexed me and you left the hospital wing John, Madame Pomfrey shrunk them slowly with her wand. I just told her to stop a little later than I should have", said Hermione.

"Aren't your parents dentists?" asked Delilah.

"Yes, and I've been asking them to let me shrink them for ages, but they just wouldn't have it, they insisted that I carry on with the braces", said Hermione.

"Hermione? Rebelling against adult authority?" Ron quipped.

"You boys are a terrible influence on me. It's already too late for Delilah", Hermione retorted teasingly, causing the others to laugh.

Soon afterwards, Ron's tiny owl flew in through an open window, landing on the table where John had pages worth of animagus-related notes.

"Fucking hell pig..." Ron said exasperatedly.

"Oh, look at the tiny little owl! It's so cute!" said a nearby third-year girl, sat with her friends.

"Be careful what you wish for. This thing doesn't ever shut up or stop moving" Ron told her, picking Pig up and taking the letter, which was from Sirius.

Sirius wrote back with a few pointers regarding animagus transformation, but ultimately said that McGonagall would be the one to follow - he had done it illegally after all. He also expressed how he wished events like the Yule ball were held during his Hogwarts years. More importantly though, he said that Harry had better not get complacent, that only one task was done and whoever was trying to kill him was likely still at school. Unfortunately, he didn't have any advice regarding the egg, but then again, neither him nor Remus were actually present.

"He sounds like Moody with that constant vigilance stuff", said Harry, shoving the letter into his pocket.

"He's right though, and there's the egg too! You really should get to working on it", said Hermione.

"Come on Hermione, there's still ages! Besides, John's transformation needs constant work", said Ron.

"And pig just tore through my notes on golden eagles... fuck", said John.

"I suppose you're right", said Hermione, who began examining some of the torn words on golden eagles.

* * *

Even John forgot about his animagus work on the day of the ball, let alone the other students with their holiday work or Harry and his egg. Having got dressed, Harry had to admit he looked rather good in his dress robes.

He met up with Ron and John near the great hall, and spotted Delilah talking to Ron.

"Hey guys", said Delilah, who was looking quite excited about the ball.

"Where are Hermione and Parvati?" Ronasked.

"Err... Oh, there!" said Harry, beckoning to Parvati, who Harry had to admit, was looking good that evening.

"Hermione said she'd be a while. No idea why", said John.

Harry spotted Cho Chang, who looked immaculate, but he felt his stomach twist with jealousy when he saw she was with Cedric Diggory. He didn't want to hate Cedric in that moment - he was a friendly person, but he simply couldn't help it. He did feel better when Parvati showed up, looking rather beautiful herself though.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Delilah gasped, looking at the stairs behind him. Looking around, he saw that it was Hermione, and his jaw dropped. It didn't quite look like Hermione though. She was wearing a periwinkle blue dress, her hair, normally bushy, was tied into an elegant knot on the back of her head, and she otherwise looked completely stunning.

"Explains why she took so fucking long", said John. Harry had absolutely no idea how John wasn't gawking like an idiot in the way both he and Ron were.

"Hermione... holy crap!", John said as he took her arm.

"Thanks. You're looking great too though", she replied, blushing.

"Blimey Hermione...", Ron choked out.

"Hi everyone", said Hermione shyly.

She and John headed out into the great hall, attracting a great deal of whispers from onlookers, but Harry suddenly remembered that he and Parvati were meant to open the dance, and so he led her onto the dance floor, where the other champions were stood. The hall looked completely different. It looked frosted and beautiful, the decorations which were normally impressive seemed to be better than ever, and the dance floor was charmed to look like an ice rink. It almost looked like something out of a Christmas card.

Looking around, Harry recognized some of the other guests. Bagman was there, as was Karkaroff, Madame Maxime with Hagrid, but instead of seeing Mr. Crouch at the fifth chair at the head table, Percy was sat there. He assumed that Crouch was busy and had to use his assistant to make the appearance.

When the dancing started however, Harry spent the entire time trying not to trip over his own feet as Parvati led the dance forcefully, though she looked to be enjoying herself, smiling broadly at everyone she passed.

John and Hermione were one of the first to join the champions on the dance floor. Harry immediately noticed that John and Hermione were just having fun - neither were any good at dancing whatsoever, and spent the entire time laughing at each other. The laughter was infectious, Harry found, and he too was laughing soon enough.

When people had sat down to eat though, Harry figured out that the ball was truly an event designed to get people making friends. John seemed to not care at all that Viktor Krum was dating his ex, and was in a vibrant conversation regarding Quidditch. Hermione was of course, trying hard to keep up with John, Katie and Krum. Of course, his fancying Hermione had a great deal to do with his attitude to Krum and Katie.

Dumbledore was telling Karkaroff about an interesting room he discovered recently at Hogwarts.

"I found myself taking a wrong turn on the way to a bathroom, and yet found an incredibly proportioned and large room filled with chamberpots. Yet when I left, the door vanished. Perhaps the room only appears at five-thirty in the morning? Perhaps only appearing at the quarter-moon? Perhaps only appearing when the user has an exceptionally full bladder?" Dumbledore mused.

Harry snorted into his goblet, before turning to Ron, who was in an animated conversation with Delilah.

Later in the night, Parvati had joined a Beauxbatons boy, allowing Harry to walk away and avoid Percy, who was boring them with ministry jargon, but they began to hear raised voices. He met up with Ron, who said that Delilah had gone to the bathroom on his walk.

"I'm telling you Severus, it's a sign! You know it as well as I!" This voice was Karkaroff's.

"I know Igor. Flee if you must, but I will remain here", replied Snape shortly.

Karkaroff was about to reply, but they heard rustling from behind bushes.

"What do you think you're doing here Fawcett? Stebbins? Ten points from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw!" Snape scolded. Two fifth years scurried out from behind the bushes. Snape and Karkaroff rounded another corner and found Ron and Harry.

"And what are you two doing here?" asked Snape sternly.

"Walking. Not against the law, is it?" Ron retorted.

"Keep walking then!" Snape yelled.

When they were out of earshot, Ron turned to Harry.

"They're on first-name terms? What sign were they even on about?" he asked.

"No idea. But Sirius' warning are starting to look pretty useful right about now", said Harry.

A drastic change in music told them that the fabled Weird sisters had indeed shown up and had started to play, but neither Ron nor Harry had any inclination to dance yet. They in fact overheard a conversation between Hagrid and Madame Maxime, in which Hagrid revealed that he was a half giant, saying that Madame Maxime was one too. She sounded rather offended and left in a huff.

"I always thought Hagrid was on the wrong end of an awry engorgement charm, didn't like to talk about it... blimey", said Ron.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"Giants are... well... not very nice", said Ron.

"So? Hagrid's lovely!" Harry replied.

"I know that, but Harry, you don't know what giants are like. If his mother's a giantess, it makes sense why he never mentions her. Giants are sort of like trolls, but more violent. They love killing for some reason, even when they aren't hungry", Ron explained.

"Well I don't know who Madame Maxime's kidding. Big boned? The only thing with bigger bones than her's a dinosaur. She's definitely half-giant", said Harry.

"Definitely", Ron agreed.

When they re-entered the hall, Harry noticed Cho and Cedric, and his mood was immediately soured.

" It's hot, isn't it? John's just gone to get drinks. Would you care to join us?" Hermione asked.

"Yea, but where's Delilah?", asked Ron.

"She's over there, with John" Hermione replied.

"Alright, let's go", said Harry, trying to look anywhere but at Cho and Cedric.

Throughout the rest of the night, it became very apparent that John was at least strongly infatuated with Hermione. If Harry didn't know better, he'd have thought it was because Hermione was looking stunning on that particular night, but he knew that John was dealing with whatever this was before the ball. What did surprise Harry though, were the shy, sidelong glances Delilah and Ron would occasionally throw each other. That was definitely worth talking to John about.

When Hermione decided that hit was time for her to call it a night, Harry could almost feel John's frustration upon Hermione calling John a 'wonderful friend', and his elation upon her kissing him on the cheek. He'd certainly be feeling conflicted tomorrow morning.

Apart from Hermione, Delilah and Ron left early. John was one of the last people in the entire hall, but when he left, he heard someone crying on the stairs at the entrance hall. He looked to check who it was, and recognized her as Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin in their year.

In spite of his general mistrust towards Slytherins in their year due to most of them associating with Draco Malfoy, John walked up to her. He had never known her to be as malicious as the others, nor had he seen her joining in their ideas of 'fun'. He had a sneaking suspicion that her attractiveness had played a part in his opinion of her though. And with Hermione effectively having friendzoned him just half an hour prior, he saw no harm in talking to her.

"Hey. Daphne Greengrass, right?" asked John, sitting down next to her.

She sniffed and looked up, and saw (with no small amount of surprise) that it was John Potter talking to her.

"Oh! I... Sorry, I'll just... go" she said.

"Relax, you're not in the way, I was just wondering why you were upset", said John.

"Why do you care?" she asked, genuinely curious, unaware that she came across as aggressive.

"Err..." said John, shifting away from her.

"No! I didn't mean it like... I'm just surprised that you of all people are talking to me!" said Daphne.

"Why's that?" asked John, though he had his suspicions.

"Aside from me being in the same year and house as Draco Malfoy, you're... John Potter", she replied, as if that explained everything.

"Sorry if I sound like an idiot, but I don't follow", said John.

"Well... you're probably the best rugby player in our year, you're one of the best Quidditch players in the school, everyone outside my house loves you, and well..." she trailed off.

"Go on", said John, encouragingly.

"I honestly couldn't say I have any real friends. Everyone outside Slytherin just thinks I'm like Malfoy and his bootlickers, and the Slytherins barely talk to me because I can't stand most of them", she said.

John was taken aback.

"Err... it sounds like you've got a lot of stuff to get off your chest to be honest. For what it's worth, I don't hate you. I honestly didn't really know you", said John.

"Well... you can... get to know me. If you want to", she said, shyly.

"Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?" John asked jovially, forcing the image of Hermione's face out of his mind.


	8. Mermaid's song

The very next morning, John woke up to see a head of thick, blonde hair lying on his chest. The next thing he noticed was that his chest was bare. As was... the rest of his body. And the body of the girl lying with him. It took him a moment to remember everything that happened, but he felt his heart skip a beat when he realised that neither he nor Daphne Greengrass, the girl lying with him were virgins any longer.

He would of course have preferred to have woken up with Hermione next to him, but if their interactions last night were anything to go by, that was merely a pipe dream. He then began to remember the conversation which led to everything last night.

 _"So why are you so upset?" asked John._

 _"It'll probably sound ridiculous to you, hanging out with Hermione Granger and Delilah Dursley all the time", she replied._

 _"You'd be surprised", John replied cryptically._

 _"Oh... well... alright. I fancied Terry Boot and he turned me down. He wasn't exactly... gentle about it", said Daphne._

 _"I'm going to have a guess and say it's because he thinks you're in Malfoy's gang", John said._

 _"Got it in one", replied Daphne bitterly._

 _"For what it's worth, you're probably too good-looking for him anyway", John said cheekily._

And the rest was history apparently. Both of them had agreed that they didn't want to pursue a relationship, but both agreed that the other was physically attractive.

Looking around, John saw green drapes surrounding the bed, and remembered that they had gone to the Slytherin girls' dorm, John using his broom which he summoned to circumvent the stairs to the dorm becoming a slide and a silencing charm for obvious reasons.

As John began to think about how he'd leave without being detected, Daphne began to stir.

"Good morning" he said.

"Good morning" she yawned back.

"You know, it's lucky we got the awkward 'what do we do now' phase done with pretty quickly" John quipped.

"The results were definitely worth it", Daphne laughed.

"We should do that again. It only gets better from here, right?" asked John, smirking.

"I should hope so", she replied, sitting up against her headboard.

"Nice view" John quipped immediately, looking at her bare chest, before getting out of the bed to put his clothes on.

"Oh, I agree", replied Daphne, who found herself staring at John's torso.

"When're you free next then?" asked John.

"Meet me in the astronomy tower tomorrow at... nine", she replied.

"You want to shag in a classroom? Talking to you after the ball really was a good idea", John mused, grinning.

"How good an idea it was remains to be seen", replied Daphne, winking.

"And felt" John added, grabbing his broom.

"I'll see you later then", said Daphne, flirtatiously blowing him a kiss.

"Definitely", said a grinning John, who proceeded to sneak out into the Slytherin common room and fly back into his dorm in Gryffindor tower. The sun was still rising, so it was early enough that he could successfully sneak back into his dorm. Or so he thought. The sound of him putting his broom away woke everyone up.

"John? What're you doing? Why are you still in your dress robes?" Ron asked sleepily.

"Spent the night with someone", said John, nonchalantly taking the clothes he'd wear for the rest of the day out of his trunk.

"You did what?" Seamus asked in shock.

"Spent the night with someone. Those who didn't get the subtlety, I had sex", said John, unable to contain his grin.

"What the hell? Seriously?" asked Harry.

"How? Who?" Ron asked.

"Daphne Greengrass. She was upset, I comforted her, one thing led to another and we were rolling around in her bed like animals", John replied.

"What the hell..." Dean said under his breath.

"Word of advice. Sex isn't easy. You sort of have to figure out what to do as you go along", said John.

Normally, the other boys wouldn't have wanted to hear too many details about John's escapades, but this was different and they appreciated that word of advice.

Once Neville, Seamus and Dean had left, John, Ron and Harry sat down and delved further into John's situation.

"So what about Hermione?" asked Harry.

"She made it pretty clear that we're just friends in her mind. I'm actually quite upset about that. Who'd have thought?" John replied.

"So you drowned your sorrows in Daphne Greengrass' vagina?" Ron quipped.

"Pretty much. It's like when you really want ice cream but can't find any, but find some chocolate. Only the lack of 'ice cream' here actually hurt", said John.

"You're... actually upset about Hermione, aren't you?" asked Harry seriously.

John for a moment put down his cheery front.

"Yeah. I thought that... with us going to the ball and her making such an effort to look good... well... it doesn't matter, does it?" John replied.

"Why wouldn't it?" Ron asked.

"Well if she doesn't fancy me, then whatever I feel is just useless. I guess I'll just grin and bear it until I get over her or if by some miracle she starts fancying me", said John.

"I wish I had some advice for you mate, but I think you're right", said Ron.

"Probably. But enough about me. What about you and Delilah?" asked John, perking up and grinning.

"What do you mean?" asked John.

"Oh yeah! I saw you two, you were tip-toeing around... something at least, I don't know", said Harry.

"I swear, we didn't do anything", said Ron, raising his hands.

"Relax mate, if there was anyone we'd trust with her, it'd be you", said John.

"Err... thanks?" Ron tried.

"Come on. Let's grab breakfast", said Harry.

* * *

"It was good of you to comfort her John", said Hermione, once John explained the whole situation.

"I sort of feel sorry for her if she can't fit in anywhere", said Ron through a mouthful of toast. Some things never changed.

"Should I invite her here?" asked John, pointing at the Slythernin table with his eyes.

Harry glanced over and saw her sitting alone, quite far away from anyone else. He did pity her.

"Yeah. She could use some company", said Harry.

John nodded and got up from his seat and walked over to invite her over. Harry noticed that John had a great number of eyes on him as he spoke to Daphne, and heard whispers wondering why a particularly popular Gryffindor would be talking to Daphne, who to most people was just another Slytherin, and to the Slytherins, was a reject.

Daphne followed John to his seat where the others were sat, and awkwardly looked at them for a moment.

"Err... hi. I'm Daphne", she said.

"We know. Sit down, join us", said Hermione encouragingly.

"Thank you", she said, before sitting down beside John.

"Err, I don't know if John already said, but we aren't-"she added.

"Oh don't worry, we know. John's not the type to have girlfriends. We were completely shocked when he was with Katie Bell last year" Delilah explained.

"Look at this... Our reject goes to hang out with mudbloods and mudblood lovers", came the all-too familiar and hated voice of Draco Malfoy.

The look on Daphne's face told them that the things Malfoy would say about her definitely got to her.

"Oh, hello Professor Moody, I didn't see you there", said Hermione, pretending to look behind Malfoy, who whipped his head around in shock, but found no one standing behind him.

Harry, Delilah, Ron and John laughed hard whilst Hermione smiled sweetly and mockingly at Malfoy. Daphne was trying to restrain her laughter, but wasn't doing a good job.

"Not funny mudblood", Malfoy snarled.

"Well she could just hit you again", said Ron, shrugging.

"Or I could, but I don't want to get my hands dirty. I'm still eating", said John tiredly.

"Don't you have better things to do?" Harry asked.

Malfoy huffed and stalked off, as usual flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"You dealt with him quite well", said Daphne.

"Comes with practice" Harry explained.

"So you're the one who hit him last year?" asked Daphne.

"Yes. I don't plan on making a habit out of it, but I just lost my temper", said Hermione.

"Lose your temper more often. The look on his face when he figured out what happened was almost as good as the bouncing ferret thing. Almost", said John.

The others grinned and got on with their breakfast.

"John?" Hermione called once they'd finished.

"Yeah?" John replied.

"I know I already said this yesterday, but I wanted to say thank you for the night", said Hermione.

"Any time", said John, who noticed the confidence and nonchalance with which Hermione spoke, effectively confirming his thoughts on her feelings.

"Also, I don't mean to pry, but... what exactly is your situation with Daphne?" asked Hermione.

John was taken aback. Why would she be curious?

"Well we're both err... let's just say hung up on other people, but admitted that we found each other physically attractive, so just said fuck it and had sex", said John.

"I thought you were over Katie?" asked Hermione.

"I am. There's someone else but she's not exactly after someone like me", said John wryly, though he felt his heart racing. Hermione could find out at the drop of a hat given her intelligence.

"Have you spoken to her?" she asked.

"Yeah. She's just interested in being friends. It's okay, I'll deal with it, nothing you have to worry about", said John quickly.

Hermione eyed John suspiciously for a moment, but appeared to accept it.

"Err... so what did you think about Delilah and Ron?" John asked, trying to deflect her attention.

"To tell you the truth, it's hard to deny that there was something going on with the two of them at the ball", said Hermione.

John inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

"And I reckon only time will tell", said John

* * *

Harry noted how much closer February the twenty fourth looked now that the year was 1995, and began thinking about the golden egg more than ever. He had taken to listening to it every time he was along in the dorm, asking it questions by yelling over the screeching, shaking it and re-opening it, and throwing it across the room (though he didn't expect that to change anything). Cedric had given him a tip about going to take a bath in the prefect's bathroom, but he wasn't about to take advice from someone who walked hand-in-hand with Cho in the corridors.

Furthermore, he had told Cedric exactly what the first task was about, and in return, he'd received something completely vague. He also had holiday homework to worry about. However, he somehow didn't seem to be working as hard as John. Harry had barely ever seen John work on... anything, and yet he was now always seen either reading or writing. Animagus transformations were clearly no joke, even in the basic preparation stages.

He wanted to ask John how he never seemed stressed, but remembered that he and Daphne Greengrass were often sleeping together. At least every three or four days, John would not be sleeping in the Gryffindor Common room. Harry found himself wondering whether John was sleeping with more than just Daphne, and it turned out that he was, when he caught him sneaking out of the Ravenclaw common room one night.

"Does Daphne know about that?" he asked.

"Yeah. She doesn't mind, and honestly, why should she? Besides, it only makes me better in bed", said John, grinning.

"Nice", Harry said dryly.

"Anyway, she still fancies Terry Boot", said John.

"Really? Didn't he reject her in a really mean way?" asked Harry.

"That's what I said to her, but these things aren't exactly logical", said John, shrugging.

"Anyway, ow are you getting on with the egg?" asked John.

Harry hesitated.

"Don't tell Hermione, but I haven't got a fucking clue what to do", said Harry.

John frowned.

"You still have over a month but if you don't know where to start... I don't know Harry, you should probably take Cedric's advice", said John.

"I'm not _that_ desperate", Harry grunted.

"If you say so", said John.

"How about your animagus work?" asked Harry.

"Well I've narrowed it down to golden eagle, brown bear and a lion. If I'm a golden eagle, I'll be pretty happy, I mean I can fly!" said John.

"Because flying is so hard for you, isn't it?" Harry quipped, referring to John's flying skill and firebolt.

"Well yeah, but self-powered flight is a pretty cool thing I think", said John.

"Yeah but if you were a bear or lion, Malfoy would never bother us again", said Harry dreamily.

"That is true... well at least I'll be a useful animal no matter what", said John.

"That I can agree with", said Harry.

Harry didn't by any means, give up on his egg, but he was certainly happy to forget about it for a while during the next Hogsmeade visit. However, something else came to the forefront of his mind. He saw a copy of the Daily Prophet containing what could only be described as a highly dishonest smear job on Hagrid, written unsurprisingly, by Rita Skeeter. It certainly explained why Hagrid missed the previous Care of Magical creatures lesson.

"What the fuck?" Ron seethed at the three broomsticks, nearly spilling his butterbeer.

"Ron, calm down!" Hermione hissed.

"How can I? What did Hagrid do to deserve that?" Ron retorted.

Hermione didn't respond - she too was furious at the article.

Sure enough, the author of the article was at the same pub.

"Harry! Fancy seeing you here!" she said in a sickly-sweet voice.

"Come to ruin someone else's life, have you?" asked Harry bitterly.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean!" said Skeeter.

"Why'd you write all that crap about Hagrid? There's nothing wrong with him!" Harry challenged.

"Well if you'd be willing to do an interview, and tell the readers about the Hagrid that _you_ know, I'm sure-" she started.

"You're not getting another interview with me if you paid me a thousand galleons!" Harry interrupted.

"You are an absolutely vile woman! Anything for a story, isn't it? Even Ludo Bagman-" Hermione started.

"Be quiet you silly girl! Don't talk about things you don't understand! And as for Ludo Bagman, I know things about him that'd make your hair curl! Not that it needs it", Skeeter retorted.

"I can't believe you call yourself a journalist. It's people like you who make people not trust the Daily Prophet", said Ron.

"Come on guys, let's just leave", said Delilah.

Many people stared at them on the way out, and it seemed as if Skeeter's quick quotes quill had already started writing down things about their confrontation.

"I'm going to get her back for this, just wait!", Hermione seethed.

"With that look on your face I'm worried that you're going to serve her her own eyeballs or something", said John, taking a long look at Hermione's rage-filled facial expression.

"Tempting as that is, I think she'll avoid mutilation", said Delilah dryly.

As soon as they returned to Hogwarts, the first thing they did was comfort Hagrid and convince him to return to teaching, but once Harry told Hagrid that he was doing well at working out the egg, he realized that enough was enough, and lying to Hagrid was not the same as lying to anyone else.

He swallowed his pride, and brought the egg to the prefect's bathroom the very next week. When he left his dorm late that night however, he saw something he knew he wasn't supposed to see. John had just walked through the door with a giggling Ravenclaw girl in tow. All three of the present company froze and stared awkwardly at each other.

"We didn't see you, and you didn't see us", said John.

"Err... Yeah. Bye!" said Harry, scurrying away from the common room.

* * *

The mermaid song was almost burned into Harry's head when he left the prefect's bathroom, such was the importance of the egg's clue. However, Harry couldn't have it at the forefront of his mind; He found himself under his invisibility cloak with Snape standing in between him and his exit, and the marauders' map was on a nearby table.

He was there due to the fact that he saw Bartemius Crouch's name in Snape's store cupboard and wanted to figure out what was going on.

Harry's spirits were lifted when Moody appeared. Knowing that Moody could see through invisibility cloaks, he waved his arms and mouthed 'that's mine!', referring to the map.

"Oh, that parchment there? That's mine", Moody said gruffly.

"It can't be! I recognize it, it's Potter's! He's here with his invisibility cloak!" said Snape angrily.

"There's no one here. I'd have spotted someone under an invisibilty cloak. Though I'm sure Dumbledore'd love to know how quickly you jumped to Potter", said Moody.

Snape, for the first time in Harry's memory, backed off immediately.

"I only meant that if he were out at this time, he wouldn't be getting enough sleep", said Snape grudgingly.

"Oh, just concerned for him are we?" Moody asked.

"Of course", said Snape, before leaving the room, his cloak billowing behind him.

Moody watched the wall, or rather straight through the wall and waited until Snape was out of earshot, and nodded to Harry when he was. Harry took off his cloak.

"Close call there Potter. What are you doing up anyway?" asked Moody.

"Working on this", said Harry, lifting up the egg.

"Nighttime strolling... good to do to help you clear your head. This parchment by the way. It's not parchment, so what is it?" asked Moody, brandishing the map.

Harry was having a hard time deciding on whether or not he would tell Moody the truth, but decided for it since he just covered for Harry for no real reason.

"It's a map of Hogwarts. Shows where people are all the time", said Harry.

"I'm not going to ask where you got it, and it is yours after all", Moody started to Harry's astonishment.

"Err... you didn't happen to see anyone... unusual by any chance, did you?" Moody finished. Harry now knew that Sirius was right and that Moody was helping Dumbledore keep an eye out for unusual and potentially dangerous developments.

"Well... yes actually, I saw Mr. Crouch in Snape's store room. He's supposed to be ill, so I don't know what he'd be doing here, let alone Snape's store room", said Harry.

"Mr. Crouch you say? Interesting. Very interesting. Potter... you don't mind if I borrow this for some time, do you?" asked Moody.

Harry knew that Moody had important work to do and now, given that he'd just covered for him, he could hardly refuse.

"Yeah, here", said Harry, happy that all he lost from his night-time escapade was the marauder's map for a week or two.

* * *

"Repeat the song again", said Hermione for what felt like the fifth or sixth time at least.

Harry sighed before reciting the haunting mermaid's song.

"Come seek us where our voices sound" Harry started.

"The black lake", said Delilah, reading off the checklist of what they'd worked out thus far.

"We cannot sing above the ground", said Harry.

"Mer-people", said Ron in a bored tone.

"And while you're searching ponder this, we've taken what you'll sorely miss" said Harry.

"They'll have taken something important to you. If they take the cloak then you'll probably have to take the loss on the chin", said John, wryly.

"I doubt it'll be that simple, but we'll wait and see on that front", said Hermione.

"An hour long you'll have to look to recover what we took", said Harry.

"That's the problem. You have to search for an hour underwater. I can only think of the bubble-head charm, but it's N.E.W.T level. I've only read about it, I couldn't for the life of me tell you how to perform it", said Hermione.

"But past an hour-the prospect's black, too late, it's gone, it won't come back", Harry finished.

"So that means whatever they've taken can't be too valuable, because you lose it if you don't find it in time", said Ron.

"There's going to be a twist to that. No way there won't be", said Harry.

"Well you'll have underwater obstacles, maybe grindylows or something. And I'm sure the merpeople will be guarding whatever is down there", said Delilah.

"Plus we have to work out how to get you breathing down there for an hour", said John.

"Start with that then", said Harry.

"Yeah, because that's easy to do", John quipped.


	9. The second task

Harry's search for a manner of underwater breath was not going well at all, and it was already mid-February. He was starting to worry that he simply wouldn't find an answer and be knocked out of the second task by default. He was made to feel worse when he found that John had further narrowed down his list of animagus forms to either a brown bear or a lion. How was John performing so well at his supposedly impossible magical work whilst he had no idea about how to pass through his own task?

He chalked it down to McGonagall's continuous mentoring, and the fact that he only had one thing to focus on, but he was still stumped, and nothing anyone could do helped in the slightest. But surely this task couldn't have been so far beyond his skills?

Every day that passed, Harry's stomach would lurch in the mornings upon realizing the date and that he was one day closer to a task which he didn't have a game plan for.

Meanwhile, John's animagus lessons were going better than ever, and McGonagall was hailing his uptake on animagus transformations as 'prodigal', something which Hermione lamented; anything which served to inflate John's already over-inflated ego was less than desirable. Worse still, John was still seen with different girls at random during the evenings.

By the time the morning of the task itself had come around, Harry had overslept and underprepared. He had no idea how to breathe underwater for an hour, John had gone missing mysteriously, and he was woken up by Dobby.

"Dobby? What-" Harry started.

"Harry Potter must go now! They have taken his brother!" Dobby said.

Harry rubbed his eyes in confusion. What was he talking about?

"Who's taken John?" asked Harry.

"The mer-people! Harry Potter is late! The task starts in thirty minutes! He must take this!" said Dobby, forcing a winding weed into his hand.

Harry's heart nearly stopped on the spot. The 'treasure' was John!

"Dobby, quickly! What do I do with this?" Harry asked, pointing with the weed Dobby handed him.

"Harry Potter must eat it sir! It is gillyweed! It will let him breathe!" said Dobby.

"Alright! Thanks Dobby!" said Harry, grabbing his task gear and bolting towards the black lake.

Harry managed to arrive just ten minutes before the task itself was supposed to start, gasping for breath.

"I'm here! Sorry!" He choked out to the organizing staff.

Karkaroff was glaring daggers at Harry, but couldn't dispute the fact that he was able to compete, but Harry didn't care.

 _Too late, it's gone, it won't come back_

That was all that Harry could think about. He had to find John and get him out as fast as he could.

Dumbledore took out his wand and used the _sonorus_ incantation, amplifying his voice at least tenfold.

"Attention!" he bellowed.

The general chatter of the crowd looked to Dumbledore immediately.

"The champions are here and ready to compete!" he said, before making a speech which Harry barely listened to - only John was on his mind.

He did, thankfully hear the cannonfire, and immediately shoved the gillyweed into his mouth, before diving into the water. It tasted awful, almost like pure salt in the form of a plant, and he cringed before forcing it down his throat under the water. In mere moments, Harry felt his hands and feet changing, and found himself breathing naturally under the water. His hands and feet were now webbed, and upon feeling his neck, there were now gills there.

He took about ten seconds to marvel at the transformation he'd just undergone, before swimming further down into the black lake's depths. If it was mer-people that took John, then Harry knew that he'd have to look for signs of some underwater civilisation. Some non-natural structures at least. He swam in random directions for what easily felt like half an hour before he finally heard something.

Unfortunately, it was definitely not mer-people songs. He felt something yank at his feet, and when he looked down, he saw at least a dozen grindylows. Upon seeing one of them grab Harry, the others swarmed him, grabbing any part of him they could find. Harry scrambled to grab them back and pull them off him, but the sheer number was becoming far too much for him to handle. He sacrificed using his wand arm to bat away the miniature monstrosities, and used his left hand to do so whilst reaching in his pocket for his wand, and without hesitation, pointed it at the swarm.

" _Immobulus!"_ , he yelled. Even though his incantation was blurred by the water, the spell worked and the Grindylows froze where they were momentarily, giving Harry time to dart away.

Some kind of wailing, but it was melodic. Too melodic to be anything else. Following the direction from where it came, Harry began to see old, stone structures, and after rounding a large forest of kelp, Harry finally saw what he was looking for. He saw John, Katie, Cho and a very young girl with silvery blonde hair. All of them were in some form of suspended animation, they were ghostly pale, and tied to a stone pillar.

None of the other champions were there yet...

* * *

It was well past an hour since the champions dove into the lake, (not that Harry knew exactly how much time it was) and Cedric and Krum had retrieved Cho and Katie respectively, but there was absolutely no sign of Fleur, and Harry knew that the little girl must have been her sister, an obvious choice for her hostage, especially given that John was Harry's.

Knowing how worried he was about not seeing John again, especially having lost him once, he couldn't let anyone else go through losing a sibling, and so he untied them both. However, when he tried to drag them to the surface, he found that he could hardly move - it was bad enough dragging an unconscious little girl, but dragging John, who was at least thirty kilos heavier was nearly impossible. Were it not for his webbed feet, it simply wouldn't have been possible.

Every centimetre he rose towards the surface sapped energy out of his legs, and Harry could honestly say he couldn't remember the first minute or so after he'd surfaced. The first thing he remembered was John explaining that they would never under any circumstances, let people who weren't even champions die. He of course, felt like an idiot. However, he was shocked to hear that his desire to save everyone earned him second place. Karkaroff seemed livid at that, but Krum didn't seem to care all that much.

"Even when you lose you still win. Shit's being handed to you on a plate", said John, punching him in the shoulder jokingly after the task had officially ended and everyone headed back to the castle.

"You shouldn't take things so lightly John, the third task is still on the horizon", Hermione warned.

"You can't deny it though Hermione... Harry just won when he lost. He's tied for first with Cedric", said John.

"Well... I suppose, but Harry needs-" Hermione started.

"Constant vigilance!" Ron bellowed, causing Harry, John and Delilah to laugh.

Hermione folded her arms and frowned, but everyone could tell that she wasn't actually angry - her lips were twitching and she was actually holding back laughter of her own.

John sighed.

"Come on Hermione, between you, Sirius and Moody constantly jumping on Harry's back, it's a wonder you've not given him paranoia that rivals Moody's! Let him live a little!", said John jovially.

"Alright, fine", said Hermione, relenting at last.

"Umm... what?", asked John in surprise.

"You're right. Sometimes I have to just switch off a little, and I have to let Harry do the same", said Hermione.

"What? Did I just convince you that you're wrong? Say it isn't so!" John said teasingly.

"Alright, don't rub it in", Hermione mumbled.

"You're just going to encourage him by telling him not to rub it in, you do realize that, I hope?" Delilah asked, smirking.

"Relax, I know when to not press on from a victory. Besides, Harry's the one who's won a real victory. Even though he was dumb enough to think that Dumbledore'd let me die", said John, elbowing Harry teasingly.

Harry smiled. Knowing that the third task was now over four months away, John's attitude wasn't so bad. He had time to relax. No surprise balls, no knowledge of what was next to come for a while - could he actually try to enjoy a regular stretch of Hogwarts?

He thought a 'normal' stretch of time was precisely what he'd get when Sirius wrote and said that he'd be bringing Lauren to finally meet them at Hogsmeade that weekend. Finally, they'd meet (according to Remus), the one woman who could hold Sirius' attention. Remus had finally achieved a job - he was working at Flourish and Blotts - something rather fitting. It didn't draw too much attention, and he'd still be contributing in a meaningful way to society.

They met up with Sirius and a very fascinated and bemused looking Lauren outside the Three Broomsticks. Their first look at Lauren made it easy to see how she first caught Sirius' attention (her personality obviously being what kept his attention). Lauren was beautiful. She was a little bit taller than Harry, had long, thick, shiny black hair, an hourglass figure and eyes as strikingly blue as Ron's.

"Damn Sirius..." John muttered to himself while they were still out of earshot. He, Harry and Ron were having a hard time not staring at her. Neither Hermione nor Delilah were impressed.

Lauren looked as shocked as the boys when she laid eyes on Harry and John.

"Hi, you must be Lauren, I'm Delilah", said Delilah politely, extending her hand.

"John's the bigger one, this is Ron, and this is Hermione", said Sirius, introducing them one by one.

"I'm sorry if I stared, you two just look so much like James", said Lauren.

"You knew my dad too then?" asked Harry.

"I did. Not too well, but I knew him to be a good man", said Lauren.

It didn't take them long to work out why Lauren was the only woman to ever hold Sirius' interest. Anyone with half a brain could immediately work out that she was profoundly kind, gentle and caring. If Sirius' reluctance to talk about his own family meant what they thought it did, meeting Lauren would have been a breath of fresh air, but still different enough to the marauders.

However, the talk did turn to warnings regarding what was going on with the tournament and Harry's involvement. Sirius even took it upon himself to explain the situation with the first wizarding war after he'd apparated Lauren back home, as Ron was tired of hearing that they were too young. They moved their conversation to a more secluded part of the pub.

"We took on a basilisk. We aren't too young. Try us", said Ron, with a hint of anger and defiance in his voice. Delilah was looking at him in a way that as good as outright told John that she fancied him and absolutely loved his more assertive side.

Sirius grinned.

"Alright, I'll try you. So just imagine that Voldemort is at full strength right now. You don't know who is on his side. You don't know who to trust. He can control people with the imperius curse, as can his death eaters. You're scared for yourself, your family, your friends. You're constantly hearing news of people being killed, going missing, the ministry is in disarray. That's what it was like back then", said Sirius.

The youngsters nodded.

"These times bring out the best and worst in people. Now Barty Crouch's principles may have been sound from the start, but the methods are what mattered. He was always power hungry. Not a death eater mind you, in fact he was the one responsible for the most hardline auror practice reforms against death eaters. He allowed them to kill when necessary. But that's not the point. His son was caught with three people I'd bet my life were death eaters", said Sirius.

"His son?" Delilah asked, shocked.

"That's right. He gave his son a trial and sent him straight to Azkaban. The man has a heart of stone, and a lot of people think he became as ruthless as the death eaters. I don't think he put your name in the goblet but if what you're saying is true and he's sneaking into Snape's office, then he's definitely up to something. Might be trying to regain his old popularity and put himself in a position to go for the minister position by catching a death-eater", said Sirius.

"Snape?" Delilah asked skeptically.

"You didn't know him when he was at Hogwarts. Slimy, greasy kid. Up to his eyeballs in the dark arts. But the thing is, Dumbledore trusts him. Yes, he trusts where other people don't, but I can't see him letting Snape work at Hogwarts if he was with Voldemort. It's just too ridiculous. Dumbledore's judgement is too strong as well. I never know what to make of him", said Sirius.

"But Crouch actually gave his own son to dementors?" Hermione asked. She didn't like Crouch but this seemed drastic.

"Yes. He wasn't a day older than nineteen at the time too. He was a scared kid. He was screaming for his mother by the night. Died within a year, and his mother died not long after through grief", said Sirius.

"How did he die?" asked John, frowning.

"Azkaban does things to your head. Most people go mad as you know, and some of them just stop eating and waste away. I think his mother lost the will to sustain herself too and gave in. I watched the dementors bury the kid's body outside the fortress because Crouch never came to collect it", said Sirius.

The thought that such a callous man was a top-ranking ministry official sent chills down Harry's spine, and it looked like it had the same effect on Delilah and Hermione.

Ron and John both looked pensive though.

"Far as I can tell though, any number of ministry officials would need to be that callous to make it in politics. That's just how it works. You told me that politicians are often high on the sociopath scale", said John.

"That's true, but Crouch is on another level", said Sirius.

"What do you make of Moody then?" Ron asked.

"It's a good line of thinking there Ron, but Moody, for all he's seen and for all the paranoia, he's a good man. Never killed if he could avoid it. Never sank to the death eaters' level. He has morals", said Sirius.

"Back to Crouch though, my brother's his assistant. Do you reckon I could ask him what's going on?" Ron asked.

"Definitely. Crouch gets his elf to save his world cup seat and doesn't show up? Organizes the tournament and still doesn't show up? Crouch never misses work, and I'll eat Buckbeak if he routinely missed work through illness before. Something's up. Your brother might know something or the other, it's worth finding out", said Sirius.

The whole situation left all five of them feeling extremely ponderous when they were back in the castle. Each one of them had ideas that may explain some of the things that were happening, and each idea seemed more unlikely than the last.

They did eventually give up on thinking of explanations for a situation they didn't even understand, and decided to instead pursue leads on Mr. Crouch. Winky wasn't useful at all - she was still in denial and depression, and Ron had sent his letter to Percy, with no reply coming thus far.

In spite of everything on everyone's minds, they continued to train each other in self-defence, and Ron and John continued their workouts. Both of them found it liberating, as they could forget about the larger-than-life nature of being connected to Harry so intrinsically, and just speak their minds.

This day was no different.

After they finished a race towards fifty push-ups, Ron brought up what he saw as the elephant in the room whenever they would train in self defence with the others. Indeed, he'd notice it whenever John and Hermione were in the same room.

"Bloody hell you do those fast!" said Ron.

"I try", said John, grinning.

"So anyway, I've been wondering, what exactly is your situation with Hermione?" asked Ron.

"Honestly? I'm just trying to avoid it", said John.

"Doesn't sound too smart actually. Yeah, I've changed my mind. You should at least think about talking about it with her", said Ron.

"It's like I said earlier, the Yule ball told me everything I need to know. Besides, you're not exactly one to talk. What about Delilah? By the way, squats", said John, starting the aforementioned exercise.

Ron followed suit before replying.

"The thing is, I'm trying. Just don't know how to get the words out", said Ron.

"For what it's worth, you're way more likely to start something up with her than I am with Hermione", said John wryly.

Ron stayed silent. He wanted to encourage John, but he knew he was right. The few flirtatious or shy moments they'd had had told Ron as much as the Yule ball had supposedly told John. Suddenly though, he realized what John was doing.

"You do know that fancying Hermione isn't going to go away or be made easier if you shag a bunch of girls, right?" asked Ron.

"True, but at least I can just... not think about her for a while", said John.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Ron asked.

"Let's just say that she's on my mind more often than I wish she was. I'm slowing down on my animagus work just because she keeps showing up in my thoughts. I'm like 'Hermione, get out of here, I have work to do!', but... yeah", said John.

"Blimey, you've got it bad", said Ron.

"So do you though. Two peas in a pod, aren't we?" asked John.

"Yeah, I guess we are", Ron laughed.

"It's good that you're trying though. Just know that I'll probably tell Hermione some day, but... just not now", said John.

"Because?" Ron asked.

"Two reasons. Firstly, loads of sex is loads of fun. Secondly, Hermione still looks at me as the friend who's either endearing or frustrating. I might just need to grow up or something", said John.

Ron nodded, finally understanding where John's head was at.

"I'll hold you to that", he said.


	10. Animagus puzzle pieces

Ron and John returned to the Gryffindor common room, both of them seemingly more content than when they left, as opposed to looking tired.

"Wow, you two are finally coming out of the closet!" Harry said when they sat down with the others.

"Oh yeah, did you know? Ron and I have been together for ages", John replied teasingly.

"Can't trust anyone like I trust him, can I?" Ron added, causing the others to laugh.

"Enough of that, you still have work to do", said Hermione.

"Yeah I know", sighed John, before he and Ron did just that.

However, a sudden outburst from John snapped everyone present, even the other people in the common room to look at him as if he'd grown an extra limb or two.

"I've got it!" he yelled.

Once he saw everyone staring at him, he grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry", he said and the the other Gryffindors went back to their business.

"What have you got?" Delilah asked.

"I'm a brown bear", said John, grinning.

It took a moment before it dawned on them what John was talking about.

"Your animagus form", said Delilah, nodding.

"Yeah! Now I just need to find McGonagall and head onto the next step!" said John happily.

"Blimey, well done mate, tell us what you need to do next, again, if we can help, we will", said Ron, clapping John on the back.

"Will do. I'll head down to see McGonagall right now, she'll be in right? On a weekend?" asked John.

"She should be. Hey, ask her if she's seen Crouch while you're there", said Harry.

"Definitely. See you in a bit", said John.

John picked up his parchment and jogged down to McGonagall's office with a spring in his step.

"Well done Potter, though I daresay, I was expecting you to have narrowed it down a little earlier", said McGonagall, once John had presented his findings.

"Yeah, I did too, I've just been a bit distracted. Nothing serious though. So what's next?" asked John.

"You may not enjoy this part", said McGonagall, with an uncharacteristic grin on her face.

"Why's that?" John asked cautiously.

"The next thing you must do is to hold the leaf of a mandrake in your mouth for a thirty days and thirty nights, non stop. Also, on each of these days, once per day, you must recite the incantation _Amato Animo Animato Animagus._ I will write it down for you, and I suggest you keep it on your bedside table to perform the incantation in the mornings as you wake up", said McGonagall.

"A mandrake leaf in my mouth. For a month..." John said flatly.

"I'm afraid so", said McGonagall.

"No alternatives?" John asked.

"I'm afraid not. The leaf will be used in a potion. I have told professor Snape and you may take the ingredients from his store rooms as long as he knows about it. Professor Sprout can provide you with the leaf. I believe she is in greenhouse two as of now", said McGonagall.

John nodded, and the talk of Snape's store rooms reminded him about Crouch, the man who supposedly snuck into it.

"Professor... have you seen Mr. Crouch recently?" he asked.

McGonagall frowned.

"Why do you ask?" she asked.

"No real reason, it's just that... well... he was one of the biggest organizers of the tournament, but no one seems to have seen him in months. It just doesn't make sense", said John.

"You are correct, but unfortunately, I cannot say I've seen him lately. Move along now, you have a lot of materials to gather", said McGonagall.

"Yeah, thanks professor", said John, who started the long jog down to the herbology greenhosues.

McGonagall hadn't seen Crouch, and she was almost always with Dumbledore when it came to tournament business. Where was he? John made a note to bring it up when he met up with the others later as he knocked on the glass door to the greenhosue in which Professor Sprout was working in.

"Come in. John, what can I do for you?" asked Professor Sprout.

"Hi professor. So I don't know if Professor McGonagall told you, but I'm working on becoming an animagus with her", said John.

"Ah, she did. I must say, I'm impressed. There have only been seven animagi this century. I understand you will need a mandrake leaf?" said Sprout.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to keep it in my mouth for a month", said John trying hard but failing not to grimace.

Professor Sprout laughed.

"I must wish you luck on that. I'll also give you a fair warning. These leaves are somewhat acidic. Nothing that will damage your mouth, but they'll be extremely sour. I'd avoid eating any desserts for the next month", said Sprout.

"Oh, perfect" John said sarcastically.

"A small price to pay for becoming an animagus in my eyes though! I daresay I could do with not eating desserts for a month", she said, chuckling to herself whilst opening up a drawer filled with carefully arranged plant parts.

"Nonsense", said John, smirking.

"You're too kind. Ah, here we are! If I were to offer advice, I'd leave it on the inside of one of your cheeks with a non-permanent sticking charm. Good luck!" she said cheerfully, handing him the leaf.

"Thanks", said John, before leaving the greenhouse. John was looking at the leaf as if it had personally insulted his family in public. He wasn't looking forward to having it in his mouth for a month.

After he left the greenhouse, he started jogging, and after he rounded the corner into the corridor which led back towards the grand staircase, he saw a flash of bushy brown hair and heard a grunt as he accidentally knocked someone over.

"Shit! Sorry, are you alright?" he asked, holding his hand out. He realized it was Hermione.

"Don't worry, I'm fine", she said, taking his hand as he helped her up. She got to her feet rather gingerly, and was holding her other wrist.

"Are you sure?" John asked.

"Ow... no, something's wrong with my wrist", she said.

"Shit... come on, I'll take you to the hospital wing", said John.

 _Really smooth John. Injure the girl you fancy. That'll get her interested._

Hermione nodded, cringing due to the pain in her wrist.

"What were you doing down here anyway? Thought you'd done your herbology homework?" John asked.

"I had, I just wanted to ask Professor Sprout a couple of things. What about you?", asked Hermione.

"Well the next thing I need to do for the animagus transformation involves keeping a mandrake leaf in my mouth for a month", said John.

"That can't be fun", said Hermione, gritting her teeth through the pain in her wrist.

"Yeah, I'm not too keen myself, but I'll have to do it", said John.

They continued discussing what it was that made John's animagus form likely to be a brown bear, before John opened the door to the hospital wing.

"Potter, why am I not surprised?" asked Madame Pomfrey.

"Good to see you too, but it's not me this time", said John.

Hermione showed her swollen wrist to Madame Pomfrey.

"Hmm... the wrist isn't broken, but some of the bones making it up are. You'll need the hand in a sling and take some skele-gro", said Madame Pomfrey.

"Skele-gro? The stuff Harry had when Lockhart removed some of his bones?" John asked.

"Precisely", said Madame Pomfrey.

Hermione grimaced - Harry told her what it tasted like.

"I'll see you later, alright? Couple of things I still need to do", said John. Hermione nodded as Madame Pomfrey started treating her injury.

John meanwhile, headed to the dungeons to see Professor Snape. He was about as happy to see John as a chicken would be to see a fox.

"Potter. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Snape asked sarcastically.

John wanted to make a snappy retort about how 'charming' Snape was, but held his tongue.

"Professor McGonagall told me to come to you about the animagus potion", said John without emotion.

"Very well. You will find the instructions in chapter seven of this book", said Snape, handing John an extremely advanced looking textbook.

"And the ingredient list will be there too. You may start brewing it here if you wish. The potion requires three months to fully brew. I suggest you start now if you already have the mandrake leaf", said Snape, taking out a small cauldron.

John nodded, and half-filled the cauldron with water. Looking at the book, he saw ingredients which he hadn't even seen before, let alone used. Thankfully, the book provided images. He could only perform the first step of the process at that moment, which was to add crushed ladybird shells to the water along with the petiole of his mandrake leaf to the mixture.

"Leave the cauldron here. I will look after it", said Snape.

"Thanks", said John, who turned around to leave.

"While I have you Potter..." Snape started.

It took all of John's willpower not to sigh and irritably ask Snape what he wanted.

"Your brother's performance in the black lake was impressive. Touching too, that his greatest treasure was you", said Snape nastily.

"So we've been told", said John, dryly.

"Would I be correct in assuming that he used gillyweed?" Snape asked.

"Yeah, he did", said John.

An unnerving look of satisfaction crossed Snape's face, but he didn't press on the issue at all.

"That will be all Potter. Run along", he said.

John nodded. He didn't need telling twice.

* * *

"Why would Snape be asking about what I used in the lake?" asked Harry.

"I don't know. Whatever the reason was though, it didn't look good. He looked really... I don't know, satisfied when I told him you used gillyweed", said John.

"Satisfied Snape... never good news", said Ron dryly.

"But you didn't do anything wrong. I wouldn't worry" Delilah assured Harry.

"He'll probably find a way to make it wrong", said Harry gloomily.

"Just ignore it for now, you're supposed to be enjoying yourself", said Delilah.

Just then, Hermione returned, with her hand in a sling, and her other hand carrying the bottle of skele-gro.

"What happened to you?" Harry asked.

"I... may have knocked her over", said John sheepishly.

"What? Why?" Delilah asked incredulously.

"He didn't do it on purpose, he was just excited about the next steps in his animagus work and wasn't looking where he was going", Hermione assured them as she sat down.

"Alright. So you're okay?" Delilah asked. Hermione nodded.

"Fair enough. Anyway John, what's next in your animagus work?" asked Harry.

John grimaced.

"Got to stick this in my mouth and leave it there for a month and use this incantation every day for thirty days. Then I put the leaf in a potion", said John.

"Nice", said Ron sarcastically.

"So I do want to be able to talk and eat while I do it... anyone know how to do a non-permanent sticking charm? I'm sticking it to the inside of my cheek", said John.

"I can help you with that", said Hermione.

"Surprise surprise", said Ron.

Hermione blushed but didn't protest.

"Alright then, go for it", said John, putting the leaf in his mouth and leaving it open. Hermione pointed her wand at John's open mouth.

" _Colloshus!"_ she incanted.

John grimaced.

"It worked. But fuck me this tastes bad..." said John.

"You'll get used to it eventually. Besides, I'm sure your saliva will dissolve the taste away within a few hours", said Delilah.

"I really hope you're right", said John.

"Actually mandrakes have restorative properties. The leaf will be regenerating whatever it is that makes it taste so bad every day", said Hermione.

"Goddamnit", said John, causing Harry to laugh.

"Laugh it up Harry. You won't laugh too hard when I'm a fucking bear", said John.

"I know, but it's still funny", Harry said through his laughter, and the others, minus John joined in, even Hermione. John did allow himself a small grin.

* * *

It didn't take Harry long to find out what the issue with Snape and the gillyweed was. He kept Harry after a potions lesson and accused him of stealing from his store rooms. Apparently, lacewing flies and boomslang skin were also missing. Ingredients for polyjuice potion. He was two years late on that front, so obviously someone else was stealing polyjuice ingredients. He did persist with a threat though, as he pulled out a clear bottle.

"Know what it is?" he asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Veritaserum. Two drops of this will have you spilling your darkest secrets on demand. Use of it on a student is... regretably forbidden. However. Should you steal from my store rooms again, my hand might just slip over your morning pumpkin juice", said Snape.

Harry just looked at his professor defiantly.

When he caught up to the others, he brought up the fact that polyjuice ingredients were missing.

"Another question to add to the list", said John, who was writing everything he knew to Sirius.

Ron had also received a reply from Percy, but unfortunately, they learned nothing from it, and Percy seemed annoyed that he was even being asked.

"None of this is making any sense", said John, frowning once he sent off Achilles with the letter.

"Do any of these ridiculous situations we keep finding ever make sense until the absolute end?" Delilah asked.

"No. That's what's so damn annoying" said Ron.

"Whatever the case though, I don't think it'll be on us to sort this time. This is big, it involves ministry officials. It'll likely be sorted by other ministry officials or Dumbledore or someone of the sort", said Hermione.

"You're right, but it still involves Harry. I'm not backing out", said John.

"I didn't say you should", said Hermione.

Harry stayed silent. The more they found out, the more questions were raised, and his brain was beginning to hurt as he continued thinking about it. It was in fact, a trend with his state of mind which seemed to refuse to leave.

Furhermore, Cedric and Cho still constantly being seen together was making it worse. Granted, Cedric had earned some goodwill in his eyes, but he still couldn't help but want to punch Cedric in the face every time he saw them.

On the other hand, John had gotten used to the mandrake leaf in his mouth roughly two days after Hermione used the sticking charm on it, though he wasn't spending any time sleeping with girls now that he had the leaf to worry about. He didn't seem frustrated about it though, much to Harry's surprise. He seemed much more interested in making sure for certain that the potion he was brewing would be brewed flawlessly.

Snape wasn't making it easy at all, and John decided that he needed a break.

"You know what? Let's just forget all of this and get some food", said John.

"Ah, your one size fits all solution", said Hermione.

"Actually that sounds good", said Ron.

"Of course it does", said Hermione, shaking her head fondly.

"Actually that gives me a chance to give Dobby the socks I bought him", said Harry.

The mere mention of making a house elf happy made Hermione far more receptive to the idea.

"Harry Potter is too kind to Dobby!" Dobby squeaked when Harry presented the socks to him.

"You really dragged me out of a tough situation Dobby, it's the least I could do", said Harry.

Hermione however, was looking at Winky, who was sat in a corner with some butterbeer.

"She is getting through six bottles a day now", Dobby said solemnly.

"Still can't accept that Dumbledore's her boss then?" Ron asked quietly.

"No sir", said Dobby.

Unfortunately, when Hermione politely asked Winky about Crouch, she descended into hysterics once again. Nothing seemed to work to calm her down, and Dobby suggested they leave, which they did without question.

"Percy doesn't know, Winky doesn't know, McGonagall doesn't know, where the hell is he?" asked Harry.

* * *

Harry had managed for the most part to enjoy Hogwarts normally for the next few weeks, and the summer weather was a welcome addition as it always was. On May the twenty-forth, he woke up and looked out onto the grounds as he usually did to force his eyes to get used to the morning light, but as he looked out to the Quidditch pitches, he noticed hedges growing on them. Massive hedges. He had no idea why, and it genuinely bothered him that the Quidditch pitch was in such a state. Upon a closer look, he saw that not all of the pitch was covered in hedges. Some of it was, and they made weird, crossing shapes seemingly with no rhyme or reason as to why.

In fact, he realized with a start that today was the day the champions would be finding out about the third task, and Harry found out that he was meant to go to the Quidditch pitch to find out. The hedges must have had something to do with it.

Cedric was even angrier than Harry about the state of the pitch and everyone knew it.

"What have they done?" he asked angrily.

Harry spotted Ludo Bagman coming to them with Krum and Fleur in tow.

"Don't worry, your pitch will be back to normal once the task is done! Can you guess what this actually will be?" Bagman asked happily.

"Maze", grunted Krum.

"Exactly! Hagrid'll have it twenty feet tall in a month! All you have to do is make your way through the maze to the centre and grab the triwizard cup! Though... there will be obstacles you'll have to fight of course. Also, you will be entering the maze in an order based upon your current running scores", said Bagman.

When Harry told John, Hermione, Ron and Delilah, they all came to the same conclusion almost instantly.

"You need to start learning some serious hexes", said John, speaking for all of them.

"And the shield charm", said Hermione.

"Do you know how to cast it?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head.

Ron groaned.

"I'm sorry Ron, but where else do you expect to find the information?" Hermione asked.

Harry knew that Hermione had the library in mind.

Sure enough, they found themselves in the library mere minutes later.

"The reductor curse... could come in handy", John offered.

"The impediment jinx. Harry, write these down!" Hermione ordered.

"Yes mum", Harry quipped.

Ron hid his laughs with coughs for fear of the wrath of both Hermione and Madame Pince.

Before long, Daphne showed up, apparently looking for John.

"Hey Daphne, what's going on?" John asked.

"Hi John. Can I talk to you for a moment? I won't keep you for too long", she said.

"Sure, I'll be right back guys", said John.

John and Daphne walked to a secluded corner of the library, before she turned to him.

"I just wanted to say that I figured out why you've been sleeping with a bunch of girls. Not so much recently, but I know what's going on", she said.

John frowned.

"Do you really? I mean... I've barely told anyone", he said.

Daphne nodded.

"It's Hermione Granger, isn't it?" she asked.

"Wow. How did you figure it out?" he asked back.

"Honestly? You look at her the same way I used to look at Terry Boot. I'm over him now by the way, don't worry about that" she said.

"Glad to hear it. But... you won't tell her, will you?" John asked.

"Of course not. You should though", she said.

"I want to, believe me. Problem is I'm pretty sure she's not feeling the same way as I am", said John.

"The thing is, it doesn't matter. She's still your friend, she deserves to know. I'm telling you this as a friend who's worried for you, alright?" Daphne said.

"Worried? I'm fine, seriously", said John.

"Maybe you are, but it's not healthy to keep it bottled up. Besides, even if she doesn't feel the same way, she can help you if she knows", Daphne reasoned.

"You and Ron seem to agree on that at least" John mused.

"It just makes sense" Daphne said.

"Look, I do plan on telling her, it's just a timing thing really. We're pretty focused on keeping Harry alive right now" John quipped.

Daphne nodded.

"Well that's fair. But when the tournament is over, you really should talk to her", said Daphne.

"I will. Thanks by the way", said John.

"Any time. I also wanted to ask another question though", said Daphne.

"Go ahead", said John.

"You haven't really been sleeping around much this past month. What's going on? And yes, I'm asking for partially selfish reasons too" she asked, blushing slightly.

John smirked.

"I'm just working on something. It'll be done in about a month, and I can make it up to you in two days, since the big part'll be done then" John replied.

"Working on something?" she pressed.

"I'm keeping it a secret on purpose. Don't worry though, I have my reasons", said John.

Daphne pouted jokingly.

"You can't just... let the secret slide for me?" she asked.

"Tempting... but no", he replied, smirking.

"Alright... but I'm holding you to the promise of making it up to me", she said, winking at him.

"Don't worry about that, it's a guarantee", said John.

"I'm counting on it. I'll see you later then", she said before John rejoined the others.


	11. The animagus

**Definitely prefer the film's reveal of what happens towards the end of this chapter. It'd certainly create more direct reactions and effects upon the characters.**

"What did she want?" asked Harry when John returned.

"She's been wondering what I've been doing. I mean I've spoken to her a few times, but we haven't..." John said, leaving his statement open on purpose.

"Oh. How much longer is that potion supposed to take?" Ron asked.

"Another month I'll be ready to go about a week before the third task", said John.

"Brilliant, I can't wait!" said Ron happily.

"Me too. Seeing something John's actually _worked_ towards, instead of having you carry him", Delilah said to Hermione dryly.

"Very funny. It's not like I work on Quidditch or rugby, no, god forbid", said John, rolling his eyes.

"Joking aside, we're proud of you John. Can you show us your transformation as soon as you can?" Hermione asked.

"That I can promise", said John.

John knew his animagus work was supposed to be something which stood on its own, but he couldn't help but get images in his head of Hermione gushing over the power which he was currently learning.

After a full hour of the five of them searching for useful combat spells that Harry could learn, Harry finally had his list. They included the impediment jinx, which slowed targets down or froze them for a few seconds, the reductor curse, which blasted objects apart and perhaps most importantly, the shield charm.

* * *

Harry trained hard for three weeks, doing everything he could to properly learn hexes, jinxes and curses which may prove useful in the task. He ran his list by Moody one day, asking whether or not what he was trying to learn was good enough for the task.

"Good balance there Potter. Should be good enough for the task", he said gruffly. "Oh, while I've got you, here's your map back. Dead useful to have, even though I didn't find much"

"Oh, thanks professor!" said Harry, rushing to rejoin the others.

"Brilliant, I've felt naked without this thing", said John, once Harry handed him the map.

"What do you plan on using that for this time?" asked Delilah, suspiciously.

"Early warning system. I might be sneaking around at night for all sorts of reasons to be honest", said John.

"Of course you will", said Hermione in a resigned tone.

"Hey, we'll need it when we're training Harry too", said John.

John was completely correct on that front. Three times they had been using the transfiguration classroom while it was empty when they used the map to catch McGonagall before she appeared. On the day when Harry and John forgot the map however, McGonagall did catch them. What surprised them was that she _let_ them use it.

"At least you'll have a member of staff to help should you injure yourselves", she said in a long-suffering voice, though her lips twitched in a way which suggested that she was happy that they were learning instead of causing trouble, especially John.

"Blimey, by the time we're done, you'll be as good at hexing as aurors and we'll have skin thicker than giants and trolls", said John after the session.

"It won't be skin so much as armour I reckon", said Ron, smirking.

Harry was glad they were able to make some humour out of the situation. He was also happy to see that they were learning the spells as well, playing off his own efforts and what the books were saying.

"You know... it might be useful to get a bit of physical training in too", said John.

"I'm not going to get noticeably stronger in a week. But... I reckon you and Ron were right about it. Never know when I'll need it. I'll start joining you two if that's alright?" Harry asked.

"Just make sure you don't train with us for the last two days before your task. You can't have aching muscles when you're in the maze" Ron advised.

"Definitely. John... what about your animagus transformation? How's that going?" asked Harry.

John grinned.

"Potion's nearly ready. I'm putting in the last ingredient in about an hour. If it goes well, I'll be able to transform and then I'll be off the the ministry with McGonagall straight after", said John.

"That's wonderful!" said Delilah with no small amount of pride.

"Don't tell people. I want to surprise people with it", said John, smirking.

"You and your ego", said Hermione, tiredly.

"Actually it's not an ego thing. I really just want to surprise people" John insisted.

"His ego's still the size of Jupiter, but I think he's telling the truth", said Delilah, causing Harry, Ron and Hermione to laugh.

"Very funny", said John, rolling his eyes.

* * *

"I'm almost impressed Potter", said Snape as John completed the potion which he'd been working on for so long. It was shimmering, silver, bubbling lightly, giving off some white steam, as it should have done.

"Thanks", said John stonily.

"Well?" Snape asked, after ten seconds of tense silence. "Aren't you going to drink it?"

"What? Oh!" said John, who picked up the mug Snape had on his desk, poured his potion into it and downed the hot liquid. It tasted surprisingly good, nothing like the leaf of the mandrake which stayed in his mouth for so long. It resembled the taste of an elderflower extract drink, which Hermione had once offered him last year.

"If you find the taste pleasant, then you have brewed your potion correctly", Snape said with a very business-like tone.

"It's good. Shame it takes so long to brew, or I'd be making more just for the taste", said John jokingly, before he remembered that he was in the presence of someone with a sense of humour comparable to that of a boulder.

"You'd best be off to see Professor McGonagall, hadn't you? I imagine you'd hate to deny her a chance to show your achievement. What good is an accomplishment if you can't bask in some glory?" asked Snape, in a challenging tone.

"Yeah. Such is life, isn't it?" John replied sarcastically, heading out of the dungeons without bidding Snape goodbye or even acknowledging him further. Not that either of them would care.

Minutes later, John was knocking on the door of McGonagall's classroom. To his surprise, he saw Harry, Ron, Hermione and Delilah coming up behind him.

"Guys, what're you doing here?" asked John.

"You think we're going to miss this?" Ron asked.

"What was the potion like?" asked Hermione.

"Delicious. Doesn't make up for the fucking mandrake leaf though", said John.

Harry expected Hermione to admonish him for the swearing, but had to restrain his laughter when he saw McGonagall in the doorway.

"Ten points from Gryffindor Potter. You are not to use that sort of language" she said sharply, surprising John.

"Sorry. But I just had the potion", said John.

That made McGonagall's disciplinarian side vanish, only to be replaced by a teacher's pride for her student's accomplishments.

"I must congratulate you Potter. Was the taste pleasant?" asked McGonagall.

"It was delicious. Sort of like elderflower drink", said John.

"Like that stuff Hermione gave you last year?" asked Ron.

"Yeah", said John.

Hermione perked up at this. Her parents often sent her bottles of elderflower drink - she definitely enjoyed it. By her reaction, John knew that buying her some of that drink definitely couldn't hurt.

"May I ask what you are all doing here?" she asked, though Harry had the sneaking suspicion that she didn't mind.

"We just wanted to see John's first transformation", said Delilah eagerly.

"Very well", said McGonagall, waving her wand, causing some of the tables in the centre of the classroom to separate, providing enough space for a bear.

John walked into the space without any further words.

"You know what to do Potter. Remember that focus is of the utmost importance. Focus on your animal form and your human one to transform back. It will become second nature with more constant transformation", said McGonagall.

Hermione looked fascinated at a mostly academic level, Delilah seemed to be excited and happy for John, whereas Harry and Ron were both simply excited to see John transform into a bear.

John shut his eyes and his face surprisingly, was a visage of calm and peace as opposed to intense focus which they would more often see with Hermione. After ten agonizing seconds of waiting, John's body was very abruptly covered with extremely thick brown hair, his uniform vanished, his already muscular body grew to an immense size, and his head grew a snout and his teeth reshaped themselves into the formidable and frightening dentition of a brown bear.

Harry was awestruck with John's final transformation. He and Ron gaped at him, Hermione and Delilah gasped and stared, before tentatively reaching out to touch his fur, whilst McGonagall gave a very proud smile.

Harry hadn't seen a full-sized bear and he was shocked with just how big they actually were. John was stood on his hind legs and he looked to be about the same size as Hagrid. His claws were more than four inches long. If he didn't know that it was his brother, he'd have been terrified.

"Holy..." Harry choked out.

"Excellent John! You've outdone yourself, make no mistake!" said McGonagall, dropping her professionalism for the first time in Harry's memory. She even addressed him by his first name. John couldn't smile as a bear, but it was obvious he was happy, before he stood on all fours again. Even on all fours, John was five feet tall.

"Transform back now, we'd best be off to the ministry, hadn't we?" said McGonagall happily.

John nodded and before their eyes, John shrunk back into his normal, human form.

"That... was fun", he said, grinning.

* * *

John had never been to the ministry of magic before, and it was quite unlike anything he'd ever seen. Most of the building's brickwork was made of shiny, black slate, polished to the level where he could see a blurred reflection of himself. It was extremely lively; ministry workers were rushing in every direction, everyone was clearly moving with purpose.

A few people seemed to recognize McGonagall. Obviously Dumbledore's reputation preceded him, but McGonagall as it turned out, had quite a reputation of her own. John followed his professor to the department of magical law, and finally, to the animagus registration commission, where a middle-aged, stern looking magical law offical, Julius Horne stood waiting. This part of the ministry wasn't a particularly big one, but John reasoned that animagi were so rare that a great deal of resources simply weren't required to track animagi.

"When was your first transformation Mr. Potter?" asked Horne.

"About an hour ago. I'm a brown bear", said John.

"Very well. If you could just transform again, we'll be examining you and putting you on the record", said Horne.

John nodded and transformed again.

Two magical law witches examined every inch of his body, and John couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

"It's alright, we don't know what _you_ look like naked", said one of them cheekily.

John snapped his head towards her, somehow conveying surprise through his bear features.

"It'd be illegal anyway", said the other one.

John concluded that the witches were also told to make the process of being examined easier, considering that he was still a minor. He did appreciate it.

John next gave the ministry some details as a formality.

"And that's it. Congratulations Mr. Potter, you are now a registered animagus. The first in a very long time, I must say", said Horne.

John smiled. Seven months of work, finally paying off.

"So... how does it work? Does the ministry track me if I transform?" asked John.

"No. We can simply recognize you should we get reports of you... misusing your powers. It is one of the few pieces of magic you can perform outside school. As long as you don't alarm muggles, you'll not be in trouble", said Horne.

John nodded. That certainly made sense. In any case, having his transformations tracked would be shockingly authoritarian in the same way as tracking every underaged wizard was. That certainly wasn't a law he agreed with.

McGonagall led him away, back towards the floo hub, where the pair of them traveled straight back to Hogwarts.

John, who had the Marauders' map, saw that Harry and the others were near the black lake. Harry and Ron were standing opposite Hermione and Delilah, so he guessed that they were again practicing spells.

His guess was right.

"Hey guys", he said, and the cacophony of offensive spells stopped.

"John! How was it?" asked Ron.

"Sort of weird I suppose, but it doesn't matter. Now I can transform into a bloody bear whenever I want!" said John happily.

"Actually, you'll be able to absorb unfriendly spells better as a bear. Do you mind?" asked Hermione, gingerly holding her arm. John walked over to her and rolled up her sleeve and saw a rather large bruise on her forearm.

"Not at all", said John, who instantly transformed.

Harry was shocked with the resilience John's bear form gave him. He knew that he was now casting a fair few spells perfectly, and John barely even noticed that he was being struck by them.

After a while though, Harry found John's extremely loud, rasping breaths as a bear rather distracting, and he said as much, thus ending their session, as John transformed back.

"So, who are you going to show?" asked Harry, as they walked back.

"I'll probably show Ginny, Fred and George. I'll obviously tell Sirius and show him when I see him next. Neville, Seamus, Dean probably...Otherwise, I'll just sort of... transform when I feel like it. Oh! We should show Hagrid!", said John.

"Great idea!" said Harry, before the lot of them headed off to Hagrid's hut.

"Ruddy brilliant! Hagrid roared happily upon seeing John's bear form. "Yeh're nearly as big as I am!"

John panted happily, making Harry think he was an absurdly large dog for a moment, before transforming back into a human. Harry for a moment, wondered whether John as a bear was stronger than Hagrid or not.

"Tell yeh what, it's a shame yeh didn't know how ter do tha' las' year! Would've been dead useful with the hippogriffs!" said Hagrid.

"Yeah, I can imagine", said John, after transforming back.

"Are you lot up fer a stroll? I'd like ter jus' take in a bit of fresh air!" said Hagrid.

"Sure", said Harry.

The stroll around the forest was a very cheerful time. Hagrid's presence meant that they weren't likely to be attacked by anything in there, even the acromantula. They sang the Hogwarts school song a couple of times, laughed and joked around with each other, before Hagrid began to speak with no small amount of nostalgia.

"When I firs' met you lot, yeh were the biggest bunch of misfits I'd ever seen! Suppose yeh reminded me of myself when I were younger" said Hagrid.

"Only smaller" John quipped, to general amusement.

"And now we're in the company of the youngest triwizard champion ever!" said Hermione happily.

Harry grinned. He genuinely was performing well in the tournament, and his chances of outright winning were indeed looking good. Even Sirius, who was seemingly constantly worried about him admitted in his latest letter that Harry was doing brilliantly.

He was snapped out of his happy ruminations when he saw a pair of boots sticking out from the other side of a tree.

"Guys!" Harry called urgently, and they all rushed around the corner of the tree. It was Mr. Crouch. He was slumped against the tree, his eyes wide open yet unseeing, his mouth open in a scream which likely never left his mouth. Hermione and Delilah screamed. Ron instinctively held Delilah, Harry drew his wand and John instantly rushed to Hermione's side, transforming into a bear once he'd one so. Hagrid however, turned to the youngsters and spoke to them very seriously.

"Yeh're all ter get back inter the castle now! Understand?" he said sternly.

* * *

News of Crouch's death spread like wildfire, and by the next day, it seemed as if the entire school knew. Aurors had already been brought to the school and a search was being conducted. Hermione seemed more shaken than the others, and Ron was determined to find out why. It took him all day to convince her to talk.

"Alright... It's bad enough that we found a corpse but... I was always just so harsh about him! Saying he deserved to be sick because of Winky! Does that-does that make me..." Hermione started.

"No Hermione, it doesn't" said Ron firmly. "You didn't like him because of stuff he did, and that's got nothing to do with him dying", said Ron.

"Yeah, being dead doesn't make someone a better person. It just means that they're not there any more. It's really simple. I mean... does Hitler being dead make him someone worth respecting?" John explained.

"That's a bit of an extreme example but John's right", said Delilah.

Hermione didn't look completely convinced, but she did look to be feeling better.

"I'm just going to see McGonagall. Couple of loose ends with the animagus thing", said John, heading away. His tone suggested to Harry that he wasn't actually going to see McGonagall, but he didn't ask - there were too many people present. John would probably tell him later.

"I think he's planning on poking around for information. He's still got the map" said Delilah quietly.

"You're probably right", Harry muttered back.

"Why didn't he ask us to come?" Ron asked, frowning.

"It's easier for him to be evasive on his own", said Delilah.

Ron nodded.

The tension between the four of them was palpable, and it got to the point where Harry strongly considered asking Ron for a game of chess, in spite of already knowing the outcome beforehand. Ron stood up to fetch his chess set, but no sooner had he left the sofa, than John rushed into the room.

"Come on", said John, stomping up the stairs, with the others in tow.

They reached the fourth year boys' dorm, which was thankfully empty.

"Imperius curse. They're saying that Crouch was under the imperius curse based off the post-mortem", said John. The others gasped.

"Who said that? And how long was he under it for?" asked Hermione.

"Couple of aurors, John Dawlish and Kingsley Shacklebolt. They were telling Fudge. Bagman was there, but he didn't say much. Apparenlty he'd been under the curse for months", said John.

"How did you-" Harry started, but realised that John had also used the cloak, which he pulled off his now visible schoolbag. That was certainly an inventive way to hide the cloak when he himself wasn't under it.

"What else did they say?" asked Ron eagerly.

"I have no idea how they figured this out, but apparently, he was resisting the curse towards the end. Whoever was casting it on him must've realised and killed him in case he blabbed. Thing is though, according to this Shacklebolt guy, if you start resisting the curse after it's been used on you for months on end, you start losing your mind. So I'm not sure he needed to die", said John pensively.

"But you can regain some semblance of sanity with proper therapy", Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, I suppose", said John.

"Crouch was powerful... what kind of wizard would be strong enough to maintain an imperius curse on him for months?" Delilah asked.

"A death eater. And a powerful one at that", Ron said immediately.

"But who? Aren't the strongest ones in Azkaban?" asked Hermione.

"Not necessarily. I mean... everyone knows that a lot of them are free, pretending that they were under the imperius curse themselves. Some of them could be pretty powerful", said Ron.

"There really isn't any way to tell though, according to Moody", said Harry.

"That's actually a pretty scary thought, isn't it? Now that someone's been bold enough to use the imperius curse on Crouch for months, any of the free death eaters could start getting ideas", Ron mused.

"They probably already have. I can't imagine a lone wolf using an imperius curse on a high-ranking ministry official without some form of collusion with others", said Hermione.

"Who'd be the ones planning stuff though?" Ron asked.

"The man from my dream. And Wormtail", said Harry at once.

"But you said you never saw his face", said John, frowning.

"And Wormtail... who knows where he is?" asked Delilah.

"I know, but they're the ones who make sense. Besides, they were directly talking to Voldemort", said Harry.

"Well... would you at least recognize his voice if you heard the other guy?" John asked.

"Yeah. Definitely", said Harry.

"Well... it may be a longshot beyond all longshots, but it's a start", said John.

"Do you have other dreams like that one from the summer?" asked Hermione.

"They come and go", replied Harry.

"Is there any pattern?" asked Delilah.

"Nothing I can notice... I don't know. Thing is though, they were still the ones planning stuff. I don't think Wormtail is powerful enough to cast an imperius curse and hold it for months, at least if Remus and Sirius are right, but that other person could be for all we know", said Harry.


	12. The Pensieve

Harry did not sleep well that night. He woke up in the dead of night due to a nightmare about himself in the now nearly twenty foot hedge-maze on the Quidditch pitch, confronted by another hungarian horntail, which was being ridden by two tall, raspy-breathed dementors. When he slept again however, things escalated, and his next dream was not some absurd scenario created by an overactive imagination.

He was on the back of an eagle owl, flying towards a familiar, almost haunted looking house. They flew lower and lower, towards what Harry realized was an open window. The owl slowed down, flew through the window, and landed on a handsome, but old looking armchair. Harry was no longer following the owl - he was behind it. This allowed him to see the entire room bar the chair. He could see two figures in the dark. One was a short, weedy-haired balding man sobbing and wheezing. The other was a gigantic snake, twelve or thirteen feet long, as thick as a man's thigh, coiled up as if poised to strike.

"You are in luck Wormtail", came a familiar cold, high-pitched voice. "Your blunder has not ruined everything. He is dead. Consider yourself fortunate. Very. Fortunate" It was Voldemort.

"My Lord", Wormtail breathed. "I am so pleased... and dearly sorry, please forgive me"

"It seems Nagini", Voldemort started. "I won't be feeding Wormtail to you today. Not to worry dear though, not to worry. There is always Harry Potter"

The snake hissed, its forked tongue flicking out of its mouth, tasting the air before turning back to Voldemort.

"Now Wormtail. You are in need of a reminder of how tolerant I am of incompetence" Voldemort snarled.

"My lord! Please, mercy, I beg of you!" Wormtail cried, cowering on the floor.

There wasn't any hesitation, nor was there any warning.

"Crucio!"

Wormtail screamed, as if every inch of his skin, every pore, every nerve in his body was instantly lit on fire. His screams echoed throughout the otherwise empty house. All of a sudden, Harry felt his scar burning with a level of intensity he had never experienced before, and he too was screaming. But Voldemort was right there... he'd hear!

The next thing he knew, John and Ron were standing by him, looking down at him with worried expressions on their faces.

"Harry... what happened?" Ron whispered urgently.

Harry rubbed his eyes, confused. Where was he? His eyes darted around for clues and he found that he was back in the Gryffindor fourth year boys' dorm room. He saw Neville, Seamus and Dean still asleep. The realization that he was dreaming dawned on him and he thought it was a miracle that only Ron and John had been awoken.

"Bad dream", Harry said cryptically.

"You've had bad dreams before Harry, they don't usually have you screaming in pain", said John firmly.

Harry hesitated. He didn't want to worry either John or Ron, but John was right. This wasn't an ordinary dream. It felt as real as the infamous one from the previous summer.

"Look, let's head down to the common room and talk about this. No idea how the others aren't awake, but let's not test it", said Ron.

"Shall I get the girls?" asked John.

"How? The staircase turns into a slide on their side", said Harry.

"I'll fly of course", said John, pointing at the large window.

"No, don't bother, just let them sleep. They seemed to take the fact that we found a corpse harder than we did. Especially Hermione", said Ron.

"Yeah, you're right. We'll tell them at breakfast I suppose. Come on", said John, heading to the door.

Once they'd reached the common room, Harry got to explaining exactly what he saw in his dream, up to and including the cruciatus curse and Voldemort's promise to the snake that he would be the snake's next meal.

Ron look aghast, and John looked furious.

"If he thinks he's laying a finger on you..." John snarled.

"That's the thing though" Harry interrupted. "I looked at his chair as much as I could, and it looked like he could barely even lift his wand"

"What did he mean then? About wormtail's blunder?" asked Ron.

"Something to do with Crouch, it's got to be. He said that 'he's dead', and I think he had to be talking about Crouch. No one else who's really important's died lately", said Harry.

"Well... Donald Pleasence died a couple of months back", said John, smirking, before noticing his poor timing due to Harry's raised eyebrow.

"Who?" asked Ron.

"This muggle actor, he was really good, but it doesn't matter. So Voldemort-" Ron shuddered "Had plans for Crouch and wanted him alive for a while, and used the Imperius curse on him. The curse was broken or breaking, Voldemort didn't like that because Crouch might have blabbed but someone killed him", said Harry.

"Which means that someone at Hogwarts is capable of killing", said John.

"Karkaroff?" Ron tried.

"Maybe, but what about his talks with Snape? He seems afraid more than anything", said John.

"All the more reason, don't you think? If you're afraid enough of You-Know-Who and the death-eaters, then you're going to do anything for them, aren't you?" Ron pointed out.

"I don't know, Karkaroff doesn't seem to be in it for him any more. Pretty sure he just cares a bit too much about Krum's triwizard performance", said Harry.

After Hermione and Delilah got over their initial shock and worry regarding Harry's dream at breakfast, they too, began attempting to craft theories as to whom it was that killed Crouch. Thankfully, most of the other students were in the same boat - they too were trying their damnedest to work out who killed Crouch.

Ron dearly wished it was Snape, who would be thrown into Azkaban for it. Harry couldn't say that he disagreed, and John laughed at the idea gleefully.

Delilah and Hermione tutted disapprovingly, though after a particularly nasty potions lesson to finish off that school day, they were more inclined to agree with the boys' assessment of who they wanted the culprit to be.

"He just doesn't stop, does he?" Delilah seethed. "You'd think after you confronted him head-on last year-"she started, nodding at John before her anger overcame her desire to talk.

"He was rather unfair that time, wasn't he?" Hermione agreed.

"Rather unfair... Hermione, he gave John detention for sneezing!" Ron added incredulously.

"Like I'm showing up for _that_ ", snorted John.

"Oh John, you _can't_! It's still a detention!" said Hermione.

"I'll just tell McGonagall about that one. Other detentions he gives me I'm at least challenging him, blowing up Malfoy's gang's potions or just screwing around, so I don't normally bother", said John simply.

"I suppose that's fair", said Hermione.

"Funny how he kept missing Malfoy flinging the fish intestines at the back of my head" Harry grunted.

"What else is new?" John asked, pulling a chocolate frog out of his pocket and popping it into his mouth calmly.

"Thought Snape was the only one who could piss you off these days?" asked Ron.

"Well... him and Voldemort I suppose, but he goes without saying", Harry pointed out, ignoring Hermione and Ron's cringes.

"I can't be bothered to be angry with Snape any more. Honestly, I can barely be bothered to be angry, period. Just Voldemort, and only when he's threatening to do horrible shit. And even then, that's only in Harry's dreams, so I don't even know", John explained.

"You're... too lazy to be angry?" Delilah asked.

"I suppose you could say that. Working on becoming an animagus took a hell of a lot out of me", said John.

"Actually, speaking of that... Sirius said that it took them years to do it. How did you do it in just seven months? Even McGonagall said it'd take a year" Hermione asked.

"Well they had to figure everything out on their own. They didn't know where to start, they didn't know any of the steps, so they had to figure each one of them out as they went along, they didn't have any teachers giving them materials, and they had no teachers actually helping them. McGonagall literally told me what to do at every step, Sprout gave me the mandrake leaf and Snape looked after my potion. Plus, knowing my patronus would've helped" John explained.

"And even then it was really difficult...", Harry mused.

"Damn right it was. Worth it though", said John.

"Anyway, what about that dream?" asked Hermione.

"I've written to Sirius about it, but I really do want answers quicker", said Harry pensively.

"You should go to Dumbledore", said Delilah.

"Does he really want to be disturbed at this point? There's a dead ministry official to worry about", said Harry.

"Yes! Your dream might involve him!" said Hermione, suddenly.

"I don't know... you guys said you'd give up your the rest of the afternoon for helping me with the stunning spell", said Harry.

"You've got that down already", said John, waving it off. "Go on, see Dumbledore, we can think of other stuff to do", he insisted.

"Well... alright then", said Harry.

"We'll see you later mate, tell us if anything comes out of it", said Ron, clapping Harry on the back as he separated from the others.

Harry was stumped when he got to Dumbledore's office. He had no idea what the password was.

"Sherbert lemon!" he said. The staircase did not rise.

"Er... Honeydukes! Chocolate frogs! Drooble's best blowing gum! Bertie Bo- wait, he doesn't like those. Fuck, I don't know, Cockroach cluster!" said Harry, and to his shock, the stairs started to rumble.

"Really? I was joking" Harry said weakly, before hopping onto the rising stairs. Once he got to the top, he hesitated upon knocking on the door, for he heard voices.

"A man has died Cornelius, the tournament must be cancelled" The first, calm voice was Dumbledore.

"Never! The tournament will go on, I will not be seen as a coward! In times of crisis like this, the people will look to their leaders for strength Dumbledore!" the second was Fudge. He was far more panicked and angry.

"I imagine that cancelling the tournament will show you as a moral man, protecting people. A rather strong and courageous move in my view", said Dumbledore. Harry could almost hear the raised eyebrow in his voice. Fudge was likely ready to respond, before a third voice, Moody interrupted them.

"Excuse me. It may interest you to know that this conversation is no longer private. Harry Potter is right outside the door", he said.

Harry hastily moved so that it looked like he had just arrived and was about to knock on the door. It seemed to work, though of course, not for Moody.

"Harry! Harry, how good to see you", said Fudge.

"Err... I can come back later Professor" said Harry uncertainly.

"Not necessary Harry, the minister and I are done here. I'll be back in five or so minutes.", said Dumbledore, smiling jovially at him, as he, Moody and Fudge exited the office.

Harry was left standing in the office, bemused. Clearly if all three of them were leaving, they weren't 'done here', but if it would only take five minutes for Dumbledore to return, there couldn't be much left to say. Harry knew exactly what Fudge and Dumbledore's stances were on the current situtation, and there simply wasn't a compromise either way. Harry looked around and something in the corner of the office caught his eye. On a small stone table stood a shallow stone bowl, covered in odd symbols. He had a sneaking suspicion that Hermione of Delilah would be able to translate the symbols - they looked similar to some of the runes he'd seen them study.

He didn't know what it was that made him inch towards it. It was Dumbledore's property, and yet he just had to see it. Inside the bowl was a clear, blue liquid. However, upon second glance, he realized that there was more to it. Shapes flashed within it, the shapes of people moving about. Harry inched his face slightly closer to the bowl, until he was as close to it as he would be to an essay he would write.

Without warning, his stomach dropped, and Harry felt like he was being pulled somewhere. He didn't know where though, nor did he have any idea how. The world around him spun and shifted, and he found himself standing in what appeared to be a wizarding courtroom.

Harry blinked a few times, and looked around. How did he get there? How would he get back to Hogwarts? He could see a large number of wizards he didn't recognize, but some which he did. He saw a far younger than he'd ever seen Rita Skeeter, focusing intently on her notepad. He saw Moody and Dumbledore sitting near the head. How was that possible? He just saw them leave the room? Then again, he clearly wasn't in Hogwarts, and the fact that Skeeter looked so much younger told him that he was looking into the past.

This was confirmed when he saw Mr. Crouch at the head of the room, wearing very formal black robes. He was the judge.

Harry was more shocked still when he saw who was being tried. It was Karkaroff. He was looking into Dumbledore's memories. All chatter stopped when Crouch banged his hammer, calling for order.

"This meeting is now in session. Igor Karkaroff. You have been brought here from Azkaban at your own request. You wish to provide information which may prove consequential to the Ministry and the department of magical law enforcement. If your information should prove valuable enough, the council may be prepared to order your release. Until such a time, you will remain in our eyes a convicted death-eater. Do you accept these terms?" Crouch asked.

"I do, sir", said Karkaroff hoarsely.

"And what do you wish to present?" asked Crouch.

"Names sir. Names of those who served the dark lord", Karkaroff explained.

"Very well. Begin", Crouch ordered.

"There was... Rosier. Evan Rosier", said Karkaroff.

"Rosier is dead. He was cornered shortly after your capture, but preferred to fight rather than come quietly. He was killed in the ensuing struggle", Crouch explained.

"Took a bit of me with him", said Moody gruffly, pointing at his nose. Harry now knew the origin of the scar where the chunk of his nose was missing.

"Dead! I didn't know... There was Rookwood! Augustus Rookwood!" said Karkaroff quickly, his voice showing subtle signs of desperation. There were shocked murmurs among the council.

"Augustus Rookwood? Of the Department of mysteries?" asked Crouch.

"Yes! He was a spy! He passed information to the dark lord from inside the ministry itself!" said Karkaroff, a deranged smile appearing on his face. Just what did Azkaban do to people?

"Very well. Council will deliberate. In the meantime, you will be returned to Azkaban", said Crouch.

"No! Wait, please, I have more! There was Snape! Severus Snape!" yelled Karkaroff desperately.

The council seemed bored at this declaration, but Harry was shocked. Snape's hushed encounters with Karkaroff now made sense.

"The council has been made aware of this fact, however, Severus Snape turned spy for us at great personal risk. He is now no more a death eater than I", said Dumbledore, standing up.

Karkaroff's eyes and face darted around the room in fear and desperation.

"If those are all of the names you had, then you will be returned to Azkaban", said Crouch.

"No... there are more", said Karkaroff quietly.

Crouch leaned forward slightly, listening intently.

"These people were responsible, by means of the cruciatus curse... the torture of Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom!" Karkaroff yelled.

Harry's stomach dropped. Neville never talked about his parents. Ever. He only ever talked about his grandmother, his uncles and Aunts. This must have been why. What did the cruciatus curse do to Neville's parents that forced him to live with his grandmother? Were they tortured to death?

"Give me the names!" Crouch snarled.

A sadistic smile spread across Karkaroff's face.

Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rastaban Lestrange. And... Bartemius Crouch Junior", said Karkaroff.

Harry's mouth gaped. Crouch's son was sent to Azkaban, but Sirius never knew why. Harry now knew. The entire courtoom was in silence. Before Harry could find out what happened exactly after Karkaroff's bombshell (he assumed he was released), the courtroom shifted in a blur and reappeared. He was probably seeing it again, only a day or so later. Most of the same people were present, apart from four people sat in chained chairs in the centre of the room.

Two of the wizards were tall, with thick brown hair. One of them was far bulkier than the other, but both of them had blank, unapologetic stares. They were probably Rodolphus and Rastaban Lestrange. The other wizard was definitely Crouch's son. He looked almost identical to his father, but he looked terrified beyond words. He was shaking with fear, his eyes darting around, as if looking for an escape route and he was mumbling 'Please... I'm innocent' over and over again. The witch however, stood out from the other three quite drastically. She was tall, had a mane of thick, black curly hair, had heavy-lidded eyes, and very aristocratic, obvious features. To Harry, she also looked familiar in some way, but he couldn't tell where he'd seen her or at least someone like her before.

Harry'd mind worked furiously, trying to think of answers, before Crouch junior started screaming for mercy.

"Father! You know me! I wouldn't-I couldn't! I'm innocent, please!" he screamed.

Crouch gave his son a cold glance, before turning to Bellatrix.

"Yes, we did it, those filthy aurors deserved it! The dark lord will rise again! You mark my words! When he does, you will all regret ever opposing him!" she bellowed, cackling all the way.

"Take them away" Crouch said, stonily.

"Father! Please! I'm your son!" Crouch junior pleaded.

"You are no son of mine", Crouch senior snarled.

The image of Crouch's son kicking and screaming as the aurors dragged him away, and Bellatrix Lestrange cackling madly while the aurors did the same with her would stay with Harry forever.

Suddenly though, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. He snapped his head to his side to see Dumbledore. To his surprise, he didn't look angry. In fact, Harry couldn't tell what Dumbledore was feeling, but he couldn't dwell. The world again once swirled before him, and he found himself standing back in Hogwarts.

"Curiosity is generally encouraged here Harry. But I would also advise caution", said Dumbledore cryptically.

"What-" Harry started.

"It's a pensieve. It allows me to see that which I have already seen. It allows me to search my memories for small details. Something I may have overlooked. Something that may explain why such terrible things have happened", said Dumbledore. In that moment, Harry saw Dumbledore looking older than he'd ever seen him. It was always obvious that Dumbledore was an old man, but here, he truly looked like a man who had seen everything. From the weird and wonderful, to the torturous and soul-crushing.

"Sir... Mr. Crouch's son and the Lestranges. What exactly happened to Neville's parents?" asked Harry.

"The cruciatus curse was used on them until they lost their minds. Cases like Frank and Alice Longbottom's are a stark reminder that there _are_ fates worse than death. They can't recognize anyone, Neville included. I must ask that you don't mention this to your fellow students. Even John", said Dumbledore. Harry understood why. Neville wouldn't be able to handle the hounding from other students poking around for information on his parents. He certainly wouldn't want to think about their fate.

"I imagine there was another reason for your being here?" Dumbledore asked.

"Err... yeah", said Harry, who got to explaining the dream he had with every single detail mentioned. Wormtail, the snake, the house, Voldemort, the cruciatus curse, everything.

Dumbledore's answer was cryptic but Harry still found value in it.

"I think it unwise for you to linger over these dreams Harry. I think it best for you to just-" He started, using his wand to pull a silvery, glowing strand from his head, before putting it into the pensieve. It was a memory. "Cast them away", he said, as the strand fell into the blue liquid of the pensieve.

* * *

Ron and John found themselves playing a game of chess in the common room approximately ten minutes later, while Hermione and Delilah worked together on ancient Runes on the other side of the room to avoid Ron and John's competitiveness from being a distraction.

John took a glance at the girls before turning back to Ron.

"Pawn to C4. So... we're both doing a pretty shit job at dealing with... you know", he said, nodding his head towards them.

" Pawn to C5. I know, but Harry's still got to get past the tournament before we should even think of that stuff", said Ron.

"I know. But I think we should make a deal. Something that'll just force the honesty out of us", said John.

"What've you got in mind then?" asked Ron.

"After the tournament is over, and after whatever celebration there is for the winner, we tell them. Not together, but one of us will approach them and ask to talk to the one in question in private and then we can both just admit it", said John.

"Just like that?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. Just to make sure that both of us actually do it", said John.

"Sounds like we're making a bloody pact", said Ron, smirking.

"Pact? Blimey Ron, we're discussing talking to girls, not joining a cult. Knight to E3", replied John, smirking back.

"I reckon if we start going out with those two, we'll be joining some kind of study cult. Pawn to A5", Ron quipped, making John chuckle.

"Plus Hermione's going to make me join a house-elf cult probably. One that goes deeper than spew. At least you can dodge that a bit better than me", said John.

"Oh no, if you join, she'll drag me into it", said Ron, knowingly.

"True. Really isn't a limit to how hard she goes at anything, is there?" John asked, fondly.

Ron started at John for a moment.

"John... blimey, you might have it worse than I do!" said Ron, laughing.

John raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he challenged.

"Okay, maybe not worse" Ron relented. "But just as bad", he finished.

John thought for a moment.

"Maybe. Doesn't matter though. We agreed on this? We both tell them after the tournament is totally over? Oh, bishop to H3", said John.

"Agreed. If you don't, you have to transform randomly in a potions lesson", said Ron.

"And if you don't, I tell Fred and George", said John.

"Deal", said Ron, looking terrified at the prospect of Fred and George knowing before Delilah herself did.

Twenty minutes later (after Ron had won two games), Delilah and Hermione rejoined the pair of them.

"We're done. Aren't you two going to work on that transfiguration essay?" Delilah asked.

"That essay? I did it in class", said John in a bored tone.

"What? How? Cross-species switches are so difficult!" Hermione said incredulously.

"Err... because of this?" John replied sarcastically, before transforming into the massive brown bear for a fleeting moment.

"Of, of course", said Delilah, rolling her eyes.

"What about you Ron?" asked Hermione.

"John helped me do it", said Ron, shrugging.

"You mean to say" Hermione started in shock. "That _you two_ managed to do some homework on your own, before we did?"

"I reckon we did", said John, grinning broadly.

"Well... I'm actually quite impressed", said Hermione.

"We're probably not going to make a habit though. You two are just downright weird with homework", said Ron.

"It's not weird, we're just trying to be responsible!", Delilah insisted.

"Yeah yeah, we've heard it all before", said John tiredly. "We at least get the homework in on time though, better than Goyle at least"

"Goyle isn't much of a barometer, but yes, I suppose you do manage it all", said Hermione.

"Barometer?" Ron asked.

"It's a muggle saying. Something to be measured against", Delilah explained, and Ron nodded.

"So what d'you suppose Harry's going to get out of Dumbledore?" asked John.

Hermione frowned for a moment, thinking.

"Perhaps an explanation on some kind of... I don't know, visions? Maybe a way to test whether or not it's real. What Harry saw I mean", she said.

"Well if anyone could test that, it'd be Dumbledore"


	13. The third task

**I'm changing the behaviour of the triwizard cup/portkey here because it doesn't make too much sense that he'd let the portkey go both ways instantly - Harry would have an easy escape right under his nose. I'm also changing the presence of the death eaters in terms of when they arrive to just make Voldemort's plan more safe.**

With Harry and John both explaining what they'd both heard, there was little doubt as to which subject would become the more pressing matter. Harry, having seen the trial of death eaters and testimony from Karkaroff immediately explained how Dumbledore mentioned that Snape was a spy against Voldemort after once being a death-eater.

"That must be why Dumbledore trusts him. Still, I can't say I'd trust someone even in his shoes. There must be more to it, did Dumbledore talk about the circumstances for Snape leaving them and joining Dumbledore's side?" Hermione asked.

"No. He just said he turned spy at 'great personal risk'. It was only to calm people down while Karkaroff was giving all of those names up", Harry explained.

"No excuses to sneak around and expose Snape then", Ron said sarcastically.

"Not now Ron", said Hermione in a tired sort of voice.

"What did Crouch's son supposedly do?" asked Delilah.

Harry hesitated. He wouldn't expose Neville's secret and tell anyone what happened to his parents specifically, but he didn't feel like lying to the four people in front of him outright.

"He helped three death-eaters torture two aurors with the cruciatus curse. They didn't stop using the curse and apparently, the two aurors lost their minds. They have a son and they can't even recognize him", said Harry, grimly. Neville's face flashed in his mind's eye, and he shook it away.

Delilah looked like she was about to be sick, Hermione held her hand in front of her open mouth, and both Ron and John looked to be in a mixture of incredulity, rage and disgust.

"How. How could anyone even... consider..." Hermione started.

"It's like Sirius said, isn't it? Once you join up with Voldemort, nothing else matters. Everything becomes about him and his goals", said Ron, grimly.

"And _Crouch_ _'s_ son did that?" whispered Delilah, who still looked to be in some level of shock.

"I'm not sure. The other three definitely did it, but you should've seen Crouch's son. He was terrified, shaking and screaming for his dad. The guy was barely older than we are now", said Harry.

"Fucking hell..." John breathed out. "And Sirius was accused of being one of _them_ "

"Completely mad", Harry said firmly.

"So if Crouch's son was acting nothing like the others, and yet he was still locked up, d'you reckon he was putting it on?" asked Ron.

"I couldn't tell you. The ministry seemed to think he was guilty, but with Sirius' situation, you've got to question how good they are at getting the right guy", said Harry.

"And Sirius was saying how during the war, everyone was desperate and frightened, they'd have been looking to be doing something all the time, just to distract themselves from the fear if not for any other reason", said Delilah.

"You reckon the ministry's going to get to that state again?" asked Ron.

"As long as Fudge is in charge, I'm not ruling it out", said John darkly. His thoughts on the current minister were as clear as day ever since he confronted him in Hagrid's hut two years ago.

"Must be why Remus made boggarts the first thing we learned about last year. Facing fears and all that", Delilah mused.

"To make sure we don't make that mistake ourselves", Hermione finished.

* * *

The morning of the day of the task was spent by Harry practicing the main combat spells he'd been learning recently - stunning, the shield charm, the impediment jinx, the reductor curse and expulso, the blasting curse, the latter of which he couldn't use unless he was casting it at the ground near John whilst transformed. He felt a great deal of both satisfaction and excitement when he actually managed to send John, currently a half-tonne bear, flying through the air, landing in a heap nearly ten feet from his previous spot.

John transformed back and was helped onto his feet by Hermione and Ron, both of whom were looking in shock at Harry.

"That was insane!" said Ron.

"Yeah... I'm going to feel that tomorrow", grunted John, now standing.

"Imagine if you used that on a human! You could send them fifty feet away or more!" said Hermione.

"Yeah... shame I'm having to use my animagus powers to become a bloody punching bag though", laughed John, letting Harry know he wasn't annoyed at all.

"Well you're a bear... what other uses would you have? I can't imagine you'd want to actually maul someone", Delilah replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I don't know. Snape gets really nasty sometimes", said Ron. Hermione shot him a disapproving look.

"Anyway, we've got our history of magic exam. We'll just head off to it. Harry, the champions can meet their families in the great hall, Sirius'll probably be here", said John.

"Oh yeah, right! I'll see you guys after that exam then" said Harry. Champions were exempt from exams that year.

Harry jogged up towards the great hall, where sure enough, he met Cedric, Krum and Fleur. Fleur gave him a dazzling smile which made Harry's stomach flip. She'd been far friendlier to him ever since he saved her sister, and Harry somehow didn't want to tell her that she was never in any danger.

"Hi Harry, our families should be showing up any minute" said Cedric, also smiling at him. Krum seemed as surly as ever, and Harry found himself wondering how Katie could go from his upbeat, funny and charismatic brother to Krum, Quidditch star or not.

"Oh, there they are!" said Cedric, pointing to the doors to the hall. Harry had never met any of the families of the champions aside from Cedric's father, but he instantly recognized Fleur's mother. She was just as tall beautiful, with the same silvery-blonde hair, and walked with the same effortless elegance that her older daughter did. Fleur's sister bounced happily in front of her and hugged her older sister. Fleur's father looked nothing like either of them, but he was certainly a very friendy looking man.

Krum had undoubtedly inherited his hooked nose from his father, whom Krum was conversing with in rapid Bulgarian. His mother looked for all the world, the source of most of Krum's other features - especially the dark hair and eyes.

Cedric's father was loudly boasting about how he and Harry were tied, but Harry didn't find himself caring. Sirius wasn't the only one present to see the third task. Harry would have been delighted enough if it was just Sirius, but accompanying him were Mrs. Weasley and Bill.

"Mrs. Weasley! Bill!" said Harry happily, giving Bill a firm handshake and Mrs. Weasley a firmer hug.

"I pulled some strings and got them to come", said Sirius, grinning at Harry.

"Thanks! Wow, it's great to see you", said Harry.

"Charlie wanted to come, but he couldn't get time off. Said you were amazing against the horntail", said Bill, grinning.

"Remus too, but... well that doesn't matter. I'll tell you later", said Sirius. He seemed a bit distracted upon mentioning Remus.

Harry noticed Fleur eyeing Bill with a great deal of interest. It was no secret that Mrs. Weasley wasn't a fan of Bill's fang earring, but Fleur obviously didn't object to it.

"This is really nice of you", said Harry.

"Well it's just great to be back here", said Bill. "Haven't seen this place for five years"

"Bill, I haven't seen it for seventeen, and your mum hasn't seen it for twenty seven!" laughed Sirius.

"Don't remind me! Oh, I'm getting old", Mrs. Weasley said laughing along with him.

"As long as your hair's red I think you're good", said Sirius.

"Fancy giving us a tour?" Bill asked Harry.

"Yeah, sure!" said Harry, who began to lead them around the castle.

"Is the portrait of that mad knight still here? Sir Cadogan?" asked Bill.

"Yeah, I met him last year", said Harry.

"And the fat lady?" Bill pressed eagerly.

"Yeah she is", Harry replied.

"She was there even in my time", said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes twinkling with nostalgia. "She gave me such a telling off once because I got back at four in the morning"

"Four in the morning? Mum, what were you doing out that late?" asked Bill, astonished that his Chronically responsible mother would ever have been awake that late.

"Your dad probably knows. Best that you don't ask", said Sirius, grinning. Harry laughed loudly.

By the time they'd returned to the hall for lunch after an enjoyable walk around the castle, Ron, John, Hermione and Delilah were at the Gryffindor table.

"Mum! Bill- what're you doing here?" asked Ron in surprise.

"Thought we'd come and see Harry!" said Bill happily.

"How was the exam?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"It was alright. Forgot a couple of names..." Ron mused, but placated his mother upon seeing the look on her face. "But it's alright, most goblins have names like Urg the unclean and stuff like that!" he said.

Hermione shook her head fondly, but didn't bother to correct him. Just then, Delilah nudged Harry.

"She thinks she's figured out how Skeeter gets all that information. She'll tell us when we're alone next. Apparently we can use Sirius as leverage against her", she whispered.

Harry's mind began imagining scenarios of Sirius' position in the department of magical law enforcement to bend Skeeter to his will for all sorts of useful purposes, but John interrupted his thoughts.

"Don't eat too much. You'll be running around a lot doing who knows what in that maze" he said.

Harry looked at his plate and realized that he'd piled on a huge amount of food.

"Err... yeah. Here", he said, scraping off half of the potatoes and chicken onto John's plate.

"So John, Professor McGonagall told me you'd finished the transformation!" said Sirius excitedly. This caused some other Gryffindors to look on quizzically. John's animagus status hadn't yet become common knowledge.

"Oh, yeah! Harry, watch my plate! said John hurriedly, as he and Sirius exited the hall, presumably to the entrance courtyard where John would transform in front of Sirius.

Both of them came back with some of the biggest smiles on their faces that Harry had ever seen. Harry vowed to make Sirius more proud still by winning the triwizard tournament outright. He was tied in first, and would be allowed to enter the maze before the others, aside from Cedric. That put in in prime position, that much was certain.

* * *

Harry shockingly didn't find himself as nervous about this task as the previous two. He ended up running through all of the spells he'd learned recently in his head, and found himself relieved that he could remember them all. After the champions walked out onto the Quidditch field to see a clear blue sky, and an unrecognizable pitch due to the twenty foot tall maze, they began to hear voices behind them.

The stands started to fill with the spectators, and for the first time, Harry could physically see the excitement building for a task. The tension and excitement were both almost tangible. He saw some of the professors arriving first, Hagrid, McGonagall and Flitwick being at the front. He looked further up and could just about make out Delilah, John, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Mrs. Weasley and Bill. He gave them a wave and saw them all wave back. Harry felt a rush of confidence in now seeing his supporters, and not just those he waved at. A third of the crowd was wearing some form of red in support of Harry. The yellow was clearly for Cedric, and Harry didn't find himself caring that Cho was in yellow. Those wearing black were in support of Krum and Blue for Fleur, but their supporters were far fewer in number than Harry's or Cedric's.

Harry then looked to the judges' table. He knew that Percy was quite angry about not being allowed to take Crouch's place, and saw that the minister, Cornelius Fudge was the final judge on top of Bagman and the other heads of the schools.

Before long, the stadium was filled completely with everyone at the school, and Bagman began the announcement, using his wand to amplify his voice

"Our champions are ready! Deep within the maze, the triwizard cup has been hidden! Only professor Moody knows its exact location! Our champions must enter the maze and the first to touch the cup will be the victor! When they do, the cup and the champion will be transported instantly back at the entrance to the maze! They will enter the maze in an order based upon their current points tally! Mr. Diggory and Mr. Potter will go first!" said Bagman.

McGonagall then walked briskly towards the champions.

"We will be patrolling the outside of the maze. If you wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air with your wand and we will collect you. You will be disqualified from the task, but do not be foolish or greedy. This is for your safety", she said very seriously. Harry began to wonder what could possibly be in that maze.

"Off you go!" said Bagman excitedly, and the champions walked towards the entrance to the maze. Cedric and Harry stood shoulder to shoulder, staring into the maze, which was foggy, poorly lit and extremely foreboding.

The first whistle was blown, and Harry and Cedric walked in.

* * *

Watching and waiting on the sidelines during this task was even more tense than the previous tasks. No one knew what was inside the maze apart from the cup itself, but the crowd could see blasts and waves of fire which seemed all too familiar to the fourth-year students present.

"Blast... blast ended skrewts?" Hermione gasped.

"Got to be. Hagrid had more than one purpose for those things after all", said Ron, astonished.

"If those things are in the maze, then what else would be?" Delilah mused.

"Probably some boggarts", Hermione offered.

"That'll definitely mix things up a little. At least Harry'll cast a patronus if a dementor shows up", said John.

"I wonder what the others are afraid of", Ron mused.

"Krum's probably afraid of mirrors" John quipped.

Ron laughed, but both Delilah and Hermione tutted disapprovingly.

"Just because he's with Katie now, it doesn't mean you have to be horrible to him", Delilah chastised.

"He's only having fun", said Ron placating her.

Whether or not John was indeed just having fun was never revealed though. A great deal of commotion and shock from the crowd interrupted them as Fleur could now be seen next to the entrance of the maze, staff members rushing to her. She was lying on the ground, motionless. Madame Maxime appeared to be distraught, but it was clear that Fleur was alive. However, the reactions of the staff spokevolumes.

"That wasn't meant to happen. Whatever's in there shouldn't have done that to her", said Ron.

"You're preaching to the choir", said Delilah. Ron had never heard that phrase before, but he guessed what it meant.

Sirius forced himself not to swear. He knew the tournament was being used by someone with ulterior motives. And now Harry was trapped in a maze with factors not planned for by the organizers...

The panic among the crowd intensified when Krum was also sent out of the maze. John pulled out Harry's omnioculars and examined what the staff were checking for with Krum.

"His eyes are really glassy and unfocused, but he looks unconscious... what the hell?" John muttered to Ron.

Sirius blanched.

"He's been put under the imperius curse", he said immediately.

"What? There's no way they'd let that be a part of the tournament!" Hermione whispered urgently, looking with trepidation back to the maze, knowing that Harry was still in there.

"Of course they wouldn't! And no one knows where Harry or Cedric are... Do they even know?" asked Mrs. Weasley worriedly.

* * *

"Take it!" said Cedric.

"What? No, the task ends when the first person to touch it touches it. You're ahead of me, I couldn't beat you to it", said Harry.

"But you've saved my neck twice while we were in here. And you warned me about the dragons!" Cedric argued.

"I had help with that! You helped with the egg!" Harry retorted.

"And I had help with that!" said Cedric.

"So we're square! Just take the cup!" said Harry angrily. Even though Harry could see a distant picture in his mind of himself hoisting the triwizard cup in front of a cheering crowd, his name forever etched into wizarding history for something _he_ had done, Cedric deserved the win. He was faster.

"We'll take it together then", said Cedric firmly, walking away from the cup and towards Harry.

"What?" Harry asked, in shock.

"You heard me. On three, we grab it and we share the winnings", said Cedric.

Harry surveyed the older student for a moment. There wasn't a hint of anything but resolve in his face. He was serious, and Harry found himself slowly grinning.

"Alright, I'll take you up on that", said Harry, and he and Cedric walked all the way up to the cup. Sure enough, on the count of three, both of them touched the cup.

However, instead of being whisked back to the entrance to the maze as Bagman had said, Harry felt the entire world spinning around him, and he found himself unable to let go of the cup. After a full ten seconds of flying at breakneck speed, Harry eventually was forced by something unknown to let go. Harry and Cedric shook off their dizziness and looked around. They had landed on a path, behind a tree. They had no idea where the path led.

"Harry... the cup was a portkey. Did you know about this?" asked Cedric, getting up and walking slowly down the path with Harry.

Harry shook his head.

"That can't be good... where the hell are we anyway? Some graveyard?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the area.

Harry looked around and indeed, he was in a graveyard. It was an old looking graveyard, but it had very elaborate, decorative headstones. One particularly impressive one depicted an angel of death holding an enormous stone scythe. Harry got a foreboding sense of familiarity. He felt like he'd been there before, and while Cedric explored the nearby vicinity, Harry looked around for anything he might recognize. In the distance was a house. A very impressive looking house, but it also looked abandoned. Harry's stomach lurched when he recognized it as the house from his nightmares.

His eyes darted around and as if by instinct, his eyes were drawn back to the angel of death. He slowly approached it and read the name of the person to whom the grave belonged, even though it was a muggle's grave near a muggle village. His heart dropped upon reading the name.

 _Here lies Tom Riddle._

 _May the Lord watch over his soul._

 _1905-1943_

"No..." Harry breathed out in shock.

"Harry? What is it?" Cedric asked, rushing over to him.

"Cedric... We have to get out of here! Now!" Harry said urgently.

"Harry, I don't understand! Slow down!" said Cedric, trying to placate him.

"No time! Get back to the cup! I'll explain later!" Harry yelled.

Cedric, looking quite afraid, complied, and the pair of them rushed back towards the gate of the graveyard, where the cup lay.

They were within touching distance, but just before they could touch it, the cup vanished before their eyes.

"Fuck! What the hell!" Harry yelled, starting to panic.

His and Cedric's eyes and face darted around, looking for something, anything that might help them. Alas, what they found was not remotely helpful. They were far from alone.

Six hooded figures were slowly bearing down on them. One of them was significantly shorter than the others, and was carrying what appeared to be a baby. But Harry knew that it wasn't a baby.

* * *

The crowd's panic reached a tipping point when the cup reappeared in front of the maze without either Harry or Cedric attached to it. They were instantly on their feet, and it took Dumbledore and Bagman nearly a full minute to calm them down.

Eventually, Sirius turned to John, but to his horror, John wasn't there.

"John?" Sirius asked, worriedly, causing those accompanying him in the stands to also look to his now empty seat. In the midst of the commotion, John had slipped away... but why?

"Where could he be?" asked Mrs. Weasley, her eyes darting around the vicinity, looking for any sign of John.

"John..." Ron said, frustrated. "What are you doing?

Their questions were answered when, to their horror, they saw the cup disappear again. No one seemed to know how that had happened, but Sirius and the others knew. John had used the invisibility cloak to mount a rescue mission for Harry and Cedric.

Sirius groaned in frustration and worry.

John, meanwhile knew how much trouble he'd be in, but he didn't care. Krum, under the imperius curse? Fleur attacked too fast for her to send out red sparks? The cup appearing on its own? That didn't paint a pretty picture for Harry.

Once he'd touched the cup, he was shocked to find himself flying at an intense pace towards an unknown destination. He had to grip the cloak tightly to stop it from flying away from him, and he landed behind a tree, next to a path. He'd expected to be thrown into the maze, but that was far from what happened.

The cup was a portkey, it had been sabotaged! Sirius was right about the tournament having an ulterior motive behind it, but what was the motive? John fixed the cloak up to completely cover himself and gripped his wand tightly, before heading down the path. He eventually reached a graveyard, expecting to find either Harry or Cedric, possibly both of them.

He did indeed find both Harry and Cedric, but they weren't alone. Six figures, hooded and cloaked were pointing their wands at them. John instincts screamed at him to drop the cloak and attack them, but what could he do? There six of them... and they all looked to be adults. John instead chose to edge closer to the building overlooking the graveyard, and closer to Harry and Cedric. He wanted to send them some sort of signal and plan an escape, but no such plan seemed to formulate in his head.

Worse still, was when John got closer to the figures. He recognized their masks. They were death eaters.

"Drop your wands", came a gruff voice standing in front of the short figure holding Voldemort.

Cedric and Harry did not comply, and both of them continued fruitlessly pointing their wands at the massive group, all of whom walked closer by a few paces.

"You're outnumbered three to one. Drop them. Now", came another voice

Harry and Cedric looked at each other uncomfortably, but complied, and both of them backed a few paces away from their wands. Then, silence. The death eaters all looked to the shorter figure. Without warning, Harry felt a searing pain flood his senses, emanating from his scar. He let out a yelp of pain. His scar had hurt before, but never before had it been this intense. It was debilitating and his vision was blurred. A second sound came to replace Harry's pained yelp. A cold, high-pitched voice.

"Kill the spare"

The short figure was not in charge, he was complying. He turned his wand specifically at Cedric.

" _Avada Kerdavra!_ _"_ he yelled.

The scene seemed to play out in slow motion in front of Harry and John's eyes, and yet it happened before either of them could react. A jet of bright green light erupted from the figure's wand, striking Cedric in the chest. Cedric was dead before his body slumped uselessly to the ground.

"No! Cedric!" Harry screamed.

John stopped himself from doing just what Harry did and began to look around for anything that might help. He did however, notice that the voice said 'spare'. That mean that Harry was at least going to be kept alive for some time. The problem was that John had no idea how much time that would buy him. It seemed that he had less time than he'd hoped when one of the death eaters magically pinned Harry against the angel of death statue, using the stone scythe to hold him in place.

"Accio cauldron", came a wheezing voice, belonging to one of the other death-eaters.

Soon, a massive cauldron, bigger than any Harry or John had ever seen floated slowly towards them and came to a stop right in front of Harry. Without any hesitation, the short figure rushed towards the cauldron, and dropped Voldemort into it, and took off his hood straight afterwards. Harry looked at the face and saw a man with weedy, stringy hair, a bald spot on the top of his head and watery, blue eyes. Peter Pettigrew.

"You!"


	14. Lord Voldemort

Wormtail refused to meet Harry's eyes, but upon seeing Wormtail, John snapped. He spotted an overhanging piece of architecture from the building overlooking the graveyard. If luck was on his side... maybe...

"Expulso", he whispered, pointing his wand at the brickwork.

His spell hit its mark, and a loud blast and explosion obliterated that part of the building, causing a cascade of bricks and beams to fall towards the death-eaters. Two of them were knocked unconscious instantly. The other four looked around stupidly, not knowing what had just happened.

Harry looked up, shocked. Was someone there with him? Who would it have been? When did they get there? His eyes darted around, checking for any signs of his potential rescuer, but he just couldn't see anyone aside from the death eaters.

"Finish the potion!" barked one of the death-eaters to Wormtail. His voice was oddly familiar...

Harry watched as the death eaters looked around, walking carefully, wands drawn. Wormtail, meanwhile raised his wand towards the grave, underneath Harry's feet.

"Bone of the father... unwillingly given" he said. His voice was shaking considerably. The grass and mud underneath him split open, and the femur of Tom Riddle senior came through the ground, and wormtail used his wand to guide it into the potion, which turned white.

Wormtail then grimaced and pulled out a huge, razor-sharp knife with his hand which didn't lack a finger.

"Flesh of the servant... willingly... sacrificed!" he squeaked. Harry watched in shock as Wormtail used the knife to slice his hand off, allowing it to drop into the potion.

"Blood... of the Aaargh!" Wormtail had been interrupted by a deafening, terrifying roar. Harry's head snapped up from the cauldron to the rest of the graveyard, and his stomach was lifted by what he saw.

It was a gigantic, half-tonne brown bear. Harry knew that bears would not be found in Britain. It was John. He had absolutely no idea how John had got there, but he wouldn't complain. However, he was still stuck against the stone angel no matter how hard he struggled.

He watched as John reared up on his hind legs, and gave another thunderous roar, and the death eaters backed off slowly. The sight of a bear randomly appearing seemingly out of nowhere was clearly a drastic change in their plans. John swiped his paw at the nearest and largest death eater, but the death-eater was quick enough to dodge, though John's claws tore into the cloak.

"Kill it! Wormtail, finish the potion!" screamed the death eater.

The death eaters seemed shocked to see the bear responding to the commands, but Harry wasn't. John dropped back to all fours and sprinted towards the cauldron and Wormtail with lightning speed. Harry didn't know bears could run that fast - he was easily faster than any human could possibly run. He was moving fast enough to run down a horse if he wanted to.

It was certainly enough to cross the graveyard almost instantly, and block Wormtail off from the cauldron. John reared up again, ready to swipe his paws at Wormtail, but one of the death eaters was fast enough to stop him.

" _Avada Kerdavra!"_ he screamed, forcing John to leap out of the way.

" _Incarcerous!"_ yelled two others. Ropes erupted from their wands, wrapping themselves around John's furry, muscular body, causing John to stumble and fall. However, John managed to break the bindings with his brute strength. Just how strong were bears?

John roared in fury again, and charged at the group of death eaters, and two of them managed to dive out of the way, but the third wasn't quick enough, and John rammed his head into him, sending the death eater flying through the air, and he landed in a heap nearly twenty feet away, also unconscious.

"Wormtail! THE POTION!" roared one of the death eaters, picking himself up off the floor.

John's head whipped round, and Harry saw Wormtail coming at Harry with the knife. Harry started struggling harder than ever, but John managed to get close enough to Wormtail to distract him.

Something seemed to click within one of the remaining two death eaters.

"It's an animagus! It's protecting Potter!" he bellowed.

Harry's heart dropped. He wanted to scream at John to run and get back to the cup and save himself, but instead, found himself screaming in pain. Wormtail had reached him with the knife, and was cutting into his forearm. He was pale, shaking and whimpering with the pain coming from his bleeding stump.

"Blood...of the enemy. Forcibly taken!" he said.

The sound of Harry screaming in pain seemed to send John into a blind rage, and John completely ignored the other death eaters, and charged at Wormtail, but the other death eaters were too fast. A flash of blue light filled the graveyard, and Harry watched, terrified as Wormtail tapped his blood off the knife, into the potion, whilst John's body shrunk back into its human form.

The two death eaters, based on their body language seemed shocked upon realizing that it was John, and cast the same binding spell that had failed on his animagus form, this time tying him up properly. John was now gasping, grunting and struggling uselessly against the tight bindings.

"The dark lord will tell us what to do with him", said the larger of the two reamining death eaters aside from Wormtail. Wormtail had now dropped to his knees, sobbing with pain over his lost hand, and the other two death eaters were watching the cauldron, causing Harry to do the same in spite of himself.

The cauldron evaporated into flames and disappeared, and all that was left was the miniature body of Voldemort, which was grotesquely growing with sickening crunches of bone reshaping itself and squelches of muscle being stretched out into adult size. The sight was too gruesome for Harry to continue watching and he looked away for a moment. When he looked back however, there stood a fully powered Lord Voldemort, with one of the death eaters robing him.

His skin was gray and scaly, he was tall, hairless, had scarlet eyes with reptilian irises, and two slits for a nostrils, rather than a protruding nose. He was a genuine combination of snake and man. He let out a long, deep sigh of relief, and turned to wormtail, extending his hand without a word.

Wormtail understood, and dragged himself off the floor, handing Voldemort what Harry presumed was his wand. Harry also realized that John had stopped struggling. He guessed that John wanted to draw as little attention to himself and Harry as possible, and who was he to argue? He was looking at arguably the most powerful dark wizard of all time.

Voldemort surveyed the scene, and saw debris from John's blasting curse, and three unconscious death eaters, and looked only mildly surprised, but largely unconcerned.

"I was under the impression that we would not be hindered tonight. Rowle, tell me what has happened", he said, his voice sounding much stronger than before, but still cold and high-pitched.

Rowle was the larger death eater, and he and the others were all kneeling before Voldemort.

"My Lord... The Potter boy's brother came. We do not know how", said Rowle.

Voldemort's head snapped to John, and Harry's heart started to hammer, but he couldn't do a thing, even though he struggled as hard as he could.

"A boy... incapacitating three of my death eaters? Goyle, MacNair _and_ Lucius?" asked Voldemort.

Harry recognized all of those names. MacNair was the executioner who was supposed to kill Buckbeak, Goyle was Gregory Goyle's father and Harry was also struck by how Voldemort addressed Lucius Malfoy by his first name. Clearly, he was at least somewhat more important than the others. Somehow, Harry didn't find himself surprised.

"Tell me boy. How did you manage that?" Voldemort asked, walking towards John's tied up and restrained form, kneeling down so that they were face to face.

John merely glared daggers at Voldemort, before spitting in his face.

Voldemort wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe and laughed, a horrible, cold laugh.

"This one shows spirit. A pity he doesn't share our ideals, is it not?" Voldemort asked mockingly, standing and turning to Rowle.

Rowle nodded, looking quite terrified. Clearly, Voldemort laughing was as frightening to him as it was to Harry.

"Potter, you won't live long enough for it to matter. You might as well tell me. Else you may have to suffer my... displeasure" said Voldemort, smiling nastily at John.

"Displeasure it is then", John growled.

Voldemort's horrific smile widened, as did his eyes. He seemed to take pleasure from John's defiance.

"I was hoping you'd say that", he said, his voice dangerously low, the smile never leaving his face.

Voldemort slowly raised his wand and pointed it at John. He waved it, and the ropes binding him slid off him. John stared at Voldemort incredulously, before the dark lord made his next move.

 _"Crucio"_ he said lazily. Harry was not prepared for what he saw next.

John's entire body felt like there were red-hot nails being driven directly into every nerve of his skin. His very bones felt like they were on fire. He couldn't think, breathe or see. He could only scream. His body writhed and twitched as he tried desperately to stop the pain by any means necessary, but nothing worked - all he could do was twitch more violently. He'd never experienced pain like this, and he would have done anything to make it stop.

John's screams of pain shook Harry to his core. He couldn't stand to see his brother in this state.

"STOP IT!" He yelled desperately. To his astonishment, Voldemort lifted the curse and chuckled, turning back to Rowle.

"Since he is less than cooperative, perhaps you can tell me how three of my _inner circle_ were incapacitated _by a boy_ ", he said. Harry could hear the anger in his voice, and saw Rowle quivering with fear.

"My Lord... he is an animagus! We never knew, I swear!" he said.

Voldemort glared at Rowle.

"Is MacNair not working at the ministry? How did you not know?" he snapped. John was gasping for breath, his eyes were glassy and he was staring blankly at the sky. It was the first time Harry had seen the cruciatus curse being used on something with a voice, and it was an image that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

"MacNair is only working at the department for the regulation control of magical beasts my lord! None of us were in a position to know, I swear it!" Rowle said quickly and desperately.

Voldemort sighed with frustration.

"No matter. No _real_ damage done. But... I must confess myself disappointed in you all", said Voldemort. "Not one of you tried to find me. You all hid, content to pretend, to live comfortable lives. None of you returned for your master, apart from Wormtail. Even he only returned out of fear", he finished, disgusted.

Wormtail gave a whimper, inching towards Voldemort.

"Still... Wormtail, you have proven yourself useful", said Voldemort, who waved his wand, and Harry saw a silver hand materialize onto his stump.

"Master... thank you! Thank you master!" he gasped.

"But you... unlike your kin in Azkaban, you hid like cowards! Wormtail, give me your other arm", said Voldemort.

Wormtail bowed his head, and rolled up his sleeve. Harry could vaguely make out the same skull and serpent he saw at the world cup on his forearm. The dark mark. Voldemort jabbed his wand onto it Wormtail flinched, and mere moments later, two dozen wisps of black smoke appeared systematically around the graveyard, and as the smoke cleared, Harry realized with no small amount of terror, that Voldemort had called the other death eaters, at least the ones not in Azkaban.

"Welcome back. My _friends_ ", said Voldemort, sarcastically. "Thirteen years now. Thirteen, since we stood together. Ignore them!" Voldemort snapped, once he saw the death eaters inching towards their unconscious comrades.

"You all believed your master could be defeated. Lord Voldemort, defeated by an infant! I suppose I am partly to blame. Harry, have you ever wondered what happened?" Voldemort asked, finally turning to Harry.

"How did a baby fend off the most powerful wizard in the world? It wasn't you. You were not special, and you still aren't special. It was old magic... something I should have forseen but never expected. When dear sweet Lily Potter gave her life for you and your pathetic brother, she provided you both with the ultimate protection. I could not touch you, either of you! But no matter... your blood now runs in my veins. I _can_ touch you now", Voldemort explained, before without warning, he brought his finger down onto Harry's scar.

Harry's head felt like it was ready to explode. It was unimaginable pain, and Harry screamed out, kicking and thrashing uselessly against the stone angel. He was vaguely aware of John staggering to his feet and attempting to tackle Voldemort, before being bound by ropes sent out by Rowle. Voldemort abruptly took his finger off Harry's forehead and Harry now heard the other death eaters laughing at both John and himself.

He saw John's face become an intense representation of focus, but nothing was happening. Clearly the spell which forced him out of his animagus form was still in effect.

Voldemort then began to explain how his plan had come to fruition, how a loyal death eater was at Hogwarts, entered Harry's name, got him through the tasks individually, and turned the cup into a modified portkey which trapped him in the graveyard. He admitted not to expect Cedric or John, but it clearly didn't matter.

"Such a shame. Such a handsome boy", said Voldemort mockingly, poking Cedric's face with his foot.

The disrespect made both Harry and John's blood boil with anger.

"Don't touch him!" Harry bellowed.

Voldemort turned to Harry slowly, smiling horribly again.

"You're showing as much spirit as your brother. Just like your father. He too faced me without fear. A shame he didn't have his wand. I'd have relished some resistance. But sadly, neither he nor your filthy mother were a match for I. It was almost too easy", said Voldemort softly. The death eaters began to laugh again.

"And what about your father?" Harry snapped back, upon remembering that Voldemort's father was buried just underneath him. His father was a muggle. Something Voldemort was sure to be ashamed of.

"He lies in the ground, where he belongs. I saw to it", Voldemort said, simply, frowning at Harry.

"And you're going to do that to us too now, right? Killing two kids while they're restrained? Because you're _just that powerful"_ said John mockingly.

Voldemort smiled wickedly again.

"No. Not while restrained at least" he said, waving his wand. The ropes binding John vanished, and the stone angel of death let Harry go. The two brothers looked at each other, then at Voldemort.

"I'm going to kill you both. On my own, no interference. After tonight, no one will ever again, question my power", said Voldemort. The death eaters seemed to relish the idea of their master in action again.

"So impressive. Taking on two fourth year students. You'll be a living nightmare, won't you?" John persisted.

Voldemort looked furious, but kept his composure.

"You think I'll stop with you? Foolish boy. Now... pick up your wands! Now!" Voldemort commanded. Neither of them needed telling twice.

"None of you interfere!" Voldemort told his death eaters. "You've been told how to duel, I presume? First, we bow to each other. Come now, the niceties must be observed! Dumbledore wouldn't want you to forget your manners! Bow!" said Voldemort, after he bowed his head very slightly.

Neither brother moved a muscle, and Voldemort sighed.

" _Imperio! Imperio!"_ he said, pointing his wand at both of them one after another.

The same voice filled the heads of both Harry and John, saying the same thing.

 _Bow. Just bow. It's easy. Relax, bow. It'll feel so good. Nothing will happen, just bow._

A stronger voice fought back.

 ** _Don't. Don't bow down to him. It's what he wants. Don't bow!_**

And neither Harry, nor John bowed.

"Impressive. You have willpower to match your spirit. Not that it matters", said Voldemort.

Both Harry and John raised their wands instantly, aiming at Voldemort's head.

" _Stupefy!"_ yelled John.

 _"Expelliarmus!"_ yelled Harry.

Voldemort effortlessly swished his wand, and Harry and John's spells flew uselessly into the sky, before Voldemort, with lightning speed, used the cruciatus curse on both of them once again.

The death eaters laughed as the brothers writhed, screamed and twitched on the floor, again unable to think of anything but the pain.

As abruptly as the curse was cast, it was lifted. Harry now knew why John writhed the way he did when Voldemort first used the curse on him, and the relief of the curse being lifted was, in a sick, twisted way, the best physical feeling he'd ever had.

"I'm going to kill you tonight. I hope you know that", said Voldemort, smiling sadistically, standing on the same spot he was before casting the cruciatus curse, twenty feet away.

"Go!" Harry yelled, and he and John both bolted behind Tom Riddle's massive gravestone. Voldemort and the death eaters laughed again.

"I have the cloak. I shrunk it and put it in my pocket", John whispered urgently. But before they could plan anything, a powerful curse flew past their heads and landed mere feet from them, creating a small explosion.

"I want you to look at me when I kill you! Face me! I want to see the light leave your eyes!" Voldemort roared.

If they were going to die, they would not die hiding behind a stone. They would die facing Voldemort, on their feet, like James Potter.

They slowly walked out, shaking with rage, ready to face Voldemort once again.

"Have it your way", said Harry.

Simultaneously, Harry cast a disarming spell, whilst Voldemort cast a killing curse, whilst John transformed into the bear once more. However, instead of seeing curses hitting their targets or a flurry of teeth and claws, Harry saw the spells from his and Voldemort's wands collide, creating a dazzling show of blinding light. John and the death eaters were all staring. They hadn't seen anything like it. It wasn't all either.

A silver light emanated from halfway down the beam connecting the two wands, and Harry could hear a number of whispering voices. No one dared move, not Voldemort, Harry or anyone else present. Silver balls of light erupted from the centre, settling around both Harry and Voldemort. Next, a translucent, white dome enclose Harry, John and Voldemort from the others, and finally, the silver balls began to take verifiable forms.

An elderly, hunched man, a middle-aged woman with a vacant expression appeared first. Then, Cedric. And then... James and Lily Potter.

Harry wanted to focus on them but could only look at them with his peripheral vision.

"Harry! When the connection breaks, you must get to the portkey! We can linger for a moment to give you some time, but only a moment! Do you understand?" Came an echoing, distant version of James' voice. Harry nodded.

"John, summon it when the connection breaks!" Lily called, and John transformed back into his human form and nodded as well.

"Harry, John. Take my body back. Take my body back to my parents!" came Cedric's voice, and both Harry and John's breath caught in their throat, and both of them held back sobs, as Voldemort watched in horror.

"It's time! Sweetheart you're ready! Let go!" Lily cried, and Harry obeyed, whilst John raised his wand into the air.

"Accio Cedric! Accio Triwizard cup!" He yelled, whilst the spirits of Voldemort's victims swarmed him. Momentarily, Cedric's body and the triwizard cup flew towards them, and the world spun before them again, and they found themselves at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, at the entrance to the maze, hearing a mixture of sighs of relief and cheers.

John was shaking violently, as he stood up, the cup in hand, and Harry was sobbing over Cedric's corpse.

Fleur was the first person to notice that Cedric was dead, and she let out a blood curdling scream.

The crowd gasped in shock. A lone voice yelled for his son. His dead son. No staff member could be bothered to punish John.

"That's my son! My boy! No! NO! MY BOY!" wailed Amos Diggory, dropping to his knees.

John let out a furious roar and threw the cup down onto the ground as hard as he could, shattering the glass between the metal frame of the once beautiful artifact.

"It was a portkey! Someone used the cup as a fucking trap!" he roared as he saw McGonagall and Dumbledore rushing towards him.

"What happened?" McGonagall asked, her face turning completely white, and forgetting to admonish his use of language.

"He's back! He's back! Voldemort's back! Cedric... he asked me to bring his body back! I couldn't leave him! Not there!" Harry sobbed.

Some of the present company thought Harry was speaking madness borne from the stress of whatever just happened to him, especially Fudge.

Sirius rushed down to Harry and John, wrapping them both into a firm, comforting hug. Harry's sobs shook his body, and John couldn't stop shaking severely. Moody stepped forwards, and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Sirius. Do you mind? I reckon he'll need to be taken away from all this. I suggest you do the same for John", said Moody, gruffly.

"Y-yes", said Sirius.

Sirius and Dumbledore took John somewhere else, whilst Moody took Harry away, up to his office.

"Does it hurt? That?" Moody asked, nodding towards the slice in Harry's forearm which had since stopped bleeding for the most part, though it was still burning and somewhat sore.

"Not so much now", said Harry.

"Describe it. What was it like?" he asked.

"I... I don't know. It was like I'd fallen into one of my dreams. Nightmares. None of it... I don't know", said Harry.

"What was he like? The dark lord?" Moody asked. Harry could have sworn he heard a bit of fascination in his voice, but decided that it was something else. Moody was an auror, through and through.

"H-he was... I don't know. He was powerful... really powerful. I don't really know how we got away" Harry said truthfully. He saw Moody struggling with something and looking around in his cabinets, but didn't bother asking about it.

"Were there others? In the graveyard, were there others?" asked Moody, sounding more gruff than usual.

"There-" Harry started, before stopping himself. How did Moody know he'd been sent to a graveyard?

* * *

Sirius and Dumbledore hurriedly took John away to Dumbledore's office while the minister and members of staff tried their best to calm the crowd down.

Sirius wanted desperately to comfort John, but Harry was raving about Voldemort. That was the first thing that had to be checked.

"John, what happened? Harry was saying something about Voldemort being back", Sirius said.

John nodded, seemingly unable to talk. He'd gotten past his rage and was now apparently just in a mild state of shock, but just as Sirius was about to tell Dumbledore as much, John spoke.

"Wormtail was there. Some other death eaters too. Made some kind of potion... brought him back", he said hoarsely.

Sirius did his best to ignore his flaring temper at the mention of Wormtail's name, and Dumbledore spoke next.

"You also said that the cup was a portkey", said Dumbledore.

"Yeah. Someone who had access to it used it as a trap. Voldemort needed Harry's blood to come back", said John grimly.

"Bl-blood? Is he alright?" Sirius asked.

"Physically, I think so. But..." John trailed off. It was apparent to the two adults that the psychological shock would easily be the more damaging aspect of their ordeal.

"I tried to stop them, I swear! But they just killed Cedric without even thinking", said John, his voice starting to rise and quiver.

Sirius locked eyes with John and put his hand on John's shoulder.

"John, I'm sorry, I want to help you, but we need to work out who did that to the cup", said Sirius.

John took a deep breath and nodded.

"Whoever it was must have helped with the third task", he said.

"And you said he'd have had access to the cup. Only Professor Moody had access to it", said Dumbledore, frowning.

"Alastor Moody? I don't think it'd be him. But... hold on, he's with Harry!" said Sirius, his eyes widening. Without another word, Sirius drew his wand.

 _"Accio Marauders' map!"_ he said, and the map flew towards him moments later, arriving from Gryffindor tower.

Upon Dumbledore's quizzical look, Sirius turned to him.

"I'll explain later. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" said Sirius, hurriedly, searching for Harry's dot on the map. His heart dropped when he saw Harry, standing with not Alastor Moody, but Bartemius Crouch. Harry was with an imposter.


	15. Things Change

Harry stood there, stunned, his head throbbing with the amount of information that had just been revealed. Sirius and Dumbledore had burst into the room and revealed 'Moody' as Bartemius Crouch junior, with Snape, McGonagall and John in tow. It turned out that Crouch junior really was the monster the council he saw in Dumbledore's memory thought he was.

He watched as Snape administered drops of veritaserum, and as Crouch junior revealed how he was the one who hoodwinked the goblet of fire and entered him, how Crouch helped Harry throughout the tournament both overtly and covertly with the intention of getting him to Voldemort.

Crouch confessed to using the imperius curse on Krum, turning the cup into a portkey, and perhaps most shockingly of all, he was the one who killed Crouch senior, his father. Winky, who was also present would not stop bawling, and Harry couldn't blame her. The story was horrifying. Another revelation was how his mother had taken his place in Azkaban by use of polyjuice potion, and how he was at the Quidditch world cup with an invisibility cloak, and he was the one who stole Harry's wand and gave it to Winky.

No one seemed to have any idea what to say, but once the minister arrived, Crouch was taken away, with the promise of a dementor's kiss to be used on him.

"You're forgetting something minister", said Dumbledore once Crouch was taken away.

"Oh?" asked Fudge, raising an eyebrow.

"Lord Voldemort. He has returned", Dumbledore said, matter-of-factly.

"Impossible. The Potters has experienced trauma, they need medical attention. That's all", said the minister, who swiftly turned and walked away.

Sirius and McGongall gaped at him as his form retreated hastily. Harry and John were again shaking however - the minister's ignorance had simply reminded them of what had happened less than an hour ago. The intense pain of the cruciatus curse was all they could think of.

Sirius recovered quickly though, turned to Harry and John and held them tightly again.

"I'm so sorry" he whispered.

* * *

When John and Harry were taken to the hospital wing shortly afterwards, Ron, Hermione, Delilah, Bill and Mrs. Weasley were waiting for them. When they were asked what curses were used on them, as soon as John mentioned the cruciatus curse, Madame Pomfrey and Sirius were instantly on the warpath.

"Where is Fudge? He thinks Voldemort isn't back when the cruciatus curse gets used on teenagers? I'll beat some sense into that doddery old-" Sirius seethed.

Madame Pomfrey seemed to want to destroy Crouch junior herself, but busied herself with tending to the two brothers. Mrs. Weasley enveloped both of them in a hug the likes of which John hadn't received since he came back from the dead.

Once she had let go of them, they saw Hermione and Delilah in tears. They could have sworn they saw a single teardrop fall from Ron's eye too.

Bagman walking in to give Harry his triwizard winnings barely seemed to register with Harry - he was replaying the night's events in his mind over and over. In fact, both he and John were thinking of impossible scenarios where they saved Cedric and stopped Voldemort's potion from being brewed all at once, saving the day and going home no worse for wear. But that simply wasn't to be.

A student, not even three years older than them was dead. Not just any student either. A friendly, brave and fair student who had such a bright future, and so many friends and admirers. His parents' grief was beyond words. Mrs. Diggory seemed to be in shock, and Mr. Diggory's sobs shook everyone who heard him to the core. No parent should have to bury their child.

Hearing Mrs. Diggory thanking them for bringing Cedric's body back sent Harry and John over the edge, overcome with guilt. Both of them insisted in their minds that they should have saved Cedric somehow. They were the only ones who could, and they just didn't react fast enough. Harry was again sobbing, in spite of Sirius' comforting embrace, and John refused to speak.

 _I was under the cloak... I had the element of surprise! I stood there like an idiot and he's dead!_ John told himself. _I don't deserve all this pity, it's my fault! Why does Harry think it's his fault?_

Eventually, John forced himself to speak. He spoke with a very hoarse, raspy voice quite unlike the voice people had now learned to associate with him.

"It's not your fault. It's mine", said John. Hermione and Delilah looked about ready to cry again, and Ron looked at John in a way which effectively told Harry that he had no idea how to tell John that it wasn't true.

"John, don't say that!" Mrs. Weasley.

"None of them knew I was there, and I just... stood there and watched. I tried to think of a plan and I couldn't. I just didn't think fast enough", said John, looking down on his feet.

Mrs. Weasley marched up to John and put her hand on his shoulder.

"It's no one's fault but _his._ Did you cast the curse?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"N-no", said John, in a small voice that made Ron feel a pang in his heart. He'd never seen John looking so lost.

"And what did you do?" she asked.

"I... I fought them. But I couldn't stop them", said John bitterly. The fact that his voice was again gaining strength was a good sign.

Harry was the next to speak up. He finally realized that it was neither his own fault, and he certainly knew that it wasn't John's.

"How many death eaters were you fighting at once?" he asked in a challenging voice, thinking of the sight of a ten foot tall bear charging around the graveyard, doing everything in its power to protect Harry.

If anything would work on John now, it was tough love.

"S-six. Well... five", said John.

"And you took the cup back. If you hadn't have done that, I'd be dead too. Don't you _dare_ blame yourself", said Harry.

A ghost of a smile appeared on John's face, and everyone's hearts were lifted.

"I won't if you won't"

* * *

A day later, Harry, John and Sirius found themselves talking to Dumbledore in his office, with John seemingly more recovered going through exactly what happened when Harry and Voldemort dueled.

"But I... I can't be as powerful as him", said Harry.

"I think" Dumbledore started, looking pensive. "I think that your wand overcame his. Wands are mysterious things, and his wand failed to end you all those years ago, and it failed here again", Dumbledore explained.

None of it made sense to Harry or John, but they nodded all the same.

"And as for the echoes of Voldemort's victims, I am almost certain that the connection of your wands forced some type of priori incantatem", said Dumbledore.

"Is that why Voldemort's victims came back?" John asked.

"I'm sure of it. No spell can bring back the dead though, I trust you know that. I imagine what you saw were merely echoes", said Dumbledore.

"And what about me?" asked John.

"Whatever it is that brought you back wasn't a spell. I've been trying to understand it ever since you woke up in the hospital wing bed, but to no avail", said Dumbledore, somberly.

"What comes next then?" asked Sirius.

"None of you will like what I have to say next. However, it must be said. Harry, John, when your mother gave her life for yours, the mark of love went into your very blood. That, I think, is why Voldemort wanted your blood as a part of his rejuvination. There is another aspect you must understand however. I sent you to live with your Aunt and Uncle all those years ago, because your Aunt shares your blood. As long as you can call a place where your blood relatives live 'home', you will be untouchable to Voldemort. Unfortunately, it will not work with either of you, as the protection applies to both of you", said Dumbledore.

"So... we have to go back to the Dursleys, is that it?" Harry replied, not caring about the bitterness in his voice. Sirius too, looked angry. John seemed to take it with some form of stoic acceptance.

"Yes. You need not stay there for the entire holiday however. You only need to return once a year, for a few weeks and the protection will reset, until the day you turn seventeen. I didn't mention it when you lived together the past summer, but now that Voldemort has returned, you can imagine why it is necessary" explained Dumbledore.

"At least there's a silver lining though", said John.

Harry inwardly scoffed. Silver lining or not, he never planned on seeing the Dursleys again.

"And Delilah? Don't tell me that she has to deal with them again too" said Sirius. Harry and John knew all too well the effect they had on her. A flash of the image of Delilah being reduced to tears upon Aunt Marge's last visit appeared in their minds.

"She can stay with you", said Dumbledore to Sirius, who nodded.

"Harry, John, I think you've had enough for now. Go, be with your friends", said Dumbledore encouragingly.

Harry and John nodded uncertainly and shuffled out of Dumbledore's office, before Dumbledore turned to Sirius.

"Those two always have too much on their plate", Sirius said darkly.

"Yes. They do. Given that Voldemort has now returned, I think that we should do everything in our power to force that burden away from them", said Dumbledore.

"But how? Voldemort just doesn't want to leave them alone", said Sirius.

Dumbledore looked at Sirius with a rare expression of steely determination.

"I think it's time we recalled the Order"

* * *

The final assembly of the year was normally a sad occasion. Some students would be leaving Hogwarts for the last time, never to see it again. Every student was leaving a place like no other for months. Friends would be saying farewell. But the final assembly of Hogwarts' 1994-1995 academic year was by far the most sombre that anyone present had ever seen.

Normally, there would be flags decorating the castle representing the winner of the house cup for that year. This year however, there were only plain, black flags. Only Dumbledore uttered so much as a word.

"Today we gather in the wake of a truly terrible loss. Cedric Diggory was as some of you may know, hard working. He was kind. Most importantly, he was a fierce, truly fierce friend.", he said.

His words moved almost everyone at a basal level, and a few tearful sniffs could be heard around the great hall.

"Therefore, it is only fair that you know how he died. The ministry does not wish for me to tell you this, but I think that would be an insult to his memory. Cedric Diggory was murdered. By Lord Voldemort", said Dumbledore firmly.

For the first time, whispers and murmurs filled the great hall, but Dumbledore raised his hand to quiet them all.

"In such times, we must remember and hold on to our bonds of friendship, old and new. Though we speak different tongues, live in different lands and hold different paths, our hearts beat the same. We can all remember and celebrate a boy who was kind, honest, and brave right to the very end", said Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's words had moved many to tears, but even though Harry and John were to head back to the Dursleys, all was not doom and gloom. Hermione was carrying a jar with a beetle inside it once they'd all packed and headed onto the train.

"Hermione, you've been carrying that around all day. Why?" asked Ron.

An uncharacteristically devilish smile spread across Hermione's face.

"It's Rita Skeeter", she said, grinning at them.

"Ri... what?" Harry stuttered.

"We were wondering how she got so much information out of nowhere. This is how. Now that I know that she's an unregistered animagus, I used that as leverage to stop her from writing anything at all. I've already told her that I know Sirius, who's at the department of magical law enforcement", Hermione explained.

"You... what the..." Delilah choked out.

"Blackmail Hermione? You're pure evil! I love it!" said Ron.

Playing exploding snap in the train compartment, telling jokes, reminiscing about stupid things that they (most Ron and John) had done... this is what they lived for.

Harry had managed to ignore the hushed talks whenever he walked by, and assumed that most people had believed that Rita Skeeter's final article about him being dangerous and unstable, but he couldn't ignore Malfoy's sudden and unwelcome appearance at their compartment. He was as usual, accompanied by more Slytherins, Crabbe, Goyle, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini.

"Trying not to think about it, Potter?" Malfoy asked mockingly.

"Get out", said Harry instantly.

"You picked the wrong side Potter. I told you not to hang out with riffraff like this when we first met, remember?" he asked, nodding towards Hermione, Delilah and Ron.

"Wrong side eh? You want to find out what happens when you're on _our_ wrong side?" Ron asked, standing up in a confrontational manner, ignoring Delilah, who was tugging on his sleeve.

"As if that matters! You're on the Dark Lord's wrong side! He's back, and you're too late! They're first, muddbloods and muggle-lovers! Well... Diggory was the first-" Malfoy started, but he couldn't finish his sentence.

The compartment could have been mistaken for a contained fireworks display. Everyone had drawn their wands and by the time the smoke had cleared, the Slytherins were on the floor, unconscious. It turned out that there were more than five wands turned on the Slytherins. Fred and George had just arrived.

"Thought we'd check what this lot were up to", said Fred, deliberately treading over Goyle.

"Interesting effect there", said George, looking at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnluncus curse?"

"Me", said Harry.

"I used the jelly-legs jinx. Probably shouldn't mix those two spells. He looks to have sprouted tentacles", said George, smirking nastily at Crabbe.

"Exploding snap then?" asked Fred.

They were well into their fifth game before Fred suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, have you heard Bagman's done a runner?" he asked.

"What? Why?" asked Harry.

"Stupid git's in too much debt. Owes loads to a bunch of goblins, but he can't pay them back", said George.

"Why though?" asked Delilah.

"He's got a gambling problem. Actually, you remember when we bet him Ireland would win but Krum would catch the snitch? He paid us in leprechaun gold which vanished by the morning, and he wouldn't pay us properly when we asked him about it", said Fred.

"Got really nasty too, said we were too young to gamble and all that, so we asked for our money back", said George, darkly.

"He didn't refuse!" said Hermione, aghast.

"Got it in one", George grumbled.

"But that was your life's savings!" said Ron.

"Yeah, it was", sighed Fred.

"You know what?" Harry asked, dragging down his trunk from the overhead compartment and opening it. He pulled out the sack of gold containing his triwizard winnings.

"You know what? Have it. I don't need it", said Harry. Everyone in the compartment stared at either Harry or the sack.

"Wh-what? Harry, we can't take this!" Fred said immediately.

"Well I don't need it, and I don't want it. I tried to give it to the Diggorys but they wouldn't accept it. Just use it to start that joke shop. God knows we could all use a laugh", said Harry.

"He's mental", said George weakly.

"Maybe, but you need it more than me. Tell you what, give me a discount on your products and we're square", said Harry cheerfully.

"We'll pay you back", said Fred, tentatively taking the sack. Ron was eyeing it longingly but accepted that it wouldn't be used as personal money.

"Pay him back in joke shop products", said John.

"We solemnly swear that we'll be up to no good", said George, finally relenting and smiling. The others laughed, and got back to their exploding snap game.

Upon reaching King's Cross once again, Harry immediately noticed Remus and Sirius waiting on platform nine and three quarters, smiling and waving at them.

"We're only here for Delilah. We can't stand you two", Sirius quipped after hugging Harry and John one after another, as Remus did the same. Remus was looking slightly shabbier than last time he'd seen him, and Harry vowed to ask if he was alright when he next got to their house.

Hermione also did something she'd never done before, and kissed both Harry and John on the cheek. Harry appreciated the gesture, and John grinned stupidly.

"This is going to be a long summer", said John.

Thinking of the fact that he and John would be with the Dursleys for a while, Harry had to agree. He and John walked towards the barrier, the other side of which the Dursleys were waiting on, but John suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

"Harry, hold on. I'll catch up", he said, jogging back to Ron.

"Ron, we almost forgot about our 'pact', are you still up to do it?" he asked.

Ron looked at John uncertainly.

"Mate, you don't have to. After... well, you know", said Ron.

"All the more reason. Whatever Hermione feels, she should know. Voldemort's after Harry's blood and I'll be damned if I'm letting him get Harry without going through me" said John, in a surprisingly upbeat voice.

Ron's face slowly broke into a grin.

"Alright. I'll take you up on it", he said, walking towards Sirius, Remus and Delilah, as John did the same towards Hermione and her parents.

"Oh, John, hello again. This is my mum and dad", she said politely.

"Hi, I'm John. Nice to meet you", said John, shaking their hands one by one.

"And you. Hermione's told us a lot about you", said Hermione's father.

"Should I be worried?" John replied wryly.

"Only slightly. You seem to be a good young man", said her mother, smiling kindly at him.

"I do try. But Hermione, do you mind if I have a word? In private. Sorry, I forgot to tell you earlier with... well everything that was going on", said John.

"Everything being?" Hermione's father interjected suspiciously.

"Exams mostly", Hermione answered quickly. "And yes, lead the way", she said, turning to John, who led her away from the crowd, all the way to the end of the platform.

"What's on your mind?" Hermione asked, looking at John with a great deal of concern. Clearly she was worried something about his encounter with Voldemort was at the forefront of his mind.

"Alright, so... this might be a terrible idea, and I have no idea how you're going to react. But Voldemort wants Harry dead, and I made a promise to myself that if he wants to get to Harry, he'll absolutely have to go through me first", said John.

"Oh John... you won't be alone in that, I promise", said Hermione firmly. John smiled before continuing.

"I know. But that got me thinking. I don't want to risk dying without... alright, fuck it. I fancy you. Probably a lot more than I should, I mean we're supposed to be friends and all, but you're... you" said John.

Hermione was staring at John with her mouth wide open.

"Don't worry, I don't expect anything from you, if you want to be friends, it's alright" John added quickly.

"John... I don't know what to say", said Hermione quietly.

"Just tell me if you feel the same or not. Don't worry if you don't, I'll be alright, believe me", John insisted.

"I'm so sorry John", she said sadly, looking down. John felt a pang in his heart, but reminded himself that she most likely still cared for him as a friend.

"It's alright. You're still up for being friends, right?" John asked.

"Of course!" Hermione replied, looking scandalized.

"Then we're good. Nothing to worry about, I promise", said John.

"Are... are you sure?" asked Hermione.

"Definitely. Honestly Hermione, if I can get over literally dying, this'll be a cakewalk", said John jovially.

Hermione chuckled in spite of herself.

"Thank you for telling me though. It was brave of you", she said appreciatively.

"Yeah... nearly shat myself when I realized what I was going to do", John laughed.

Hermione shook her head, before kissing John on the cheek again.

"I'll see you soon, alright?" she said, and John nodded, before walking back towards Harry.

John was by no means happy about what had just transpired between himself and Hermione. Put simply, it hurt. However, on his way back, he saw Delilah with her arms wrapped around Ron's neck, both of them kissing passionately, and allowed himself a small smile. Whether he himself won or lost, Delilah and Ron represented that which Voldemort hated above all else. For now, that was enough.


End file.
